Here We Go Again
by Eph
Summary: A hunter ends up and a small town. A girl finds herself in a conflict with herself and with a strange being. Check out the sequel 'Requiem for a Demon'.
1. The Creep

Disclaimer: 20th Century Fox (Not me) owns all rights to Predator, Predator 2, and Alien Vs. Predator. But the Characters in this story are mostly mine. I also do not own any of the referenced video game characters in here. Those belong to assorted video game companies.

There I was in that familiar state of mind. This was the moment that would decide my fate. I have nothing to lose except a mediocre life and a dead end job. Oh, but what could be gained if I succeeded. It was beyond anything I could, or had the time to, immediately imagine.

Charging blindly into the dense fog that covered this treacherous landscape, I saw too late the tangle of branches that were awaiting me. Stuck. I can't, no, I wont be stopped here by a few branches, no, no, no. I took hold of the sleeve that had become entangled and wrenched it free only to tumble down a rocky cliff. I caught myself by wildly flailing my arms around and grabbed for anything I could use to anchor myself to stop my fall. I held on to the root I managed to grasp for dear life. Well, for my mediocre life.

I sighed in relief and when I heard a tearing noise I realized my sense of comfort had been premature. The root gave way and so let me loose to plunge to my death.

I watched as the rocks rose up to crush me. Just before the impact I heard a strange beep in my left ear and in my view huge red letters against a black background flashed stating.

-game over-

I reached up to me head to remove my visor.

"Son of a bitch."

My friends looked at me amused. Obviously they hadn't lasted very long in the game, for it seemed like they had been waiting for a long time. As I took off the sensor gloves and my other equipment, that included a heart monitor and brainwave scanner, my friend Brody spoke up.

"So what happened?"

"I fell off a cliff."

He and Jack laughed at me.

"Hah hah, shut up. I lasted longer than you did."

He waved my comment away and we started to discuss the events that had unfolded for each of us in my new virtual reality game. Jack had made his way into the abandoned town, where we had split up in the beginning of the game, and after uncovering a lot of important information was shot in the head by the crazy hobo. Brody had met his fate after interrupting a strange sexual episode that one of the weird mannequin monsters was having with a "bucket-head" monster. Brody shuddered as he remembered it.

"It was horrible, the shrieking and moaning. It was almost like the holidays at my parent's house. Yuck."

I laughed. We went outside to have ourselves a little smoke. I wasn't permitted to smoke in my domicile. My landlady would rip my eyes out of my skull and use them as olives in one of her hourly martinis. That would be if she was in a good mood. I scaled the tree that was just outside my door and leaned against the trunk then stretched my legs out. I lit my cigarette and took a nice big drag. Brody was having issues with his lighter so I threw mine at his head. It bounced off his forehead and landed in his hand.

"Thanks."

I nodded and stared across the street at nothing in particular. This town holds no interest for me and never really has. I moved here for a quiet life away from the hustle and bustle of the most western part of the western coast. I didn't plan on making friends, but living in the same small apartment complex as two really funny guys that I got along with right away made that damn close to impossible. I didn't regret becoming friends with them. They find my morbid sense of everything fascinating and my sense of humor to be a good quality. I liked to sometimes pretend we weren't just bound to each other of sheer boredom and that it was something more than that. When you got down to the facts though, it seemed the main reason for us being friends.

My attention was drawn away from the leaf that currently held my gaze and out of my thoughts when I thought I heard a pained scream off in the distance somewhere. I looked at Brody and Jack to see if there was any sign that they had heard it too. Damn my over sensitive hearing. That wasn't the only thing weird about me. I can see in the dark, not just the normal being able to adjust to darkness and make my way around obstacles, but if I wished I could pull out a book and read it if I wished.

All my senses are incredibly fine tuned and I have yet to figure out why. I don't usually tell people about my senses being that they would either think I was lying or think that I'm a threat to them because they wouldn't understand. Either way would bring dramatics into my life and I strive to avoid those. My senses aren't the only thing that's off about me. I don't remember ever getting a broken bone in my life. I've had many incidents where a broken bone would have seemed inevitable, but I got out of it with only a few minor scratches that were quick to heal. My mother has never told me why I am this way, I'm dubious if she even knows. She was never the smartest person I knew.

I never get sick, I never have any health problems. Even from 8 long years of smoking my lungs are just as pink and healthy as they could be. I eat as much junk food as I want and I rarely exercise, but my figure makes many women envious. I can run for hours on end without feeling short of breath or in the least bit tired. Another thing is my strength. I have never lifted a weight in my 19 years of being on this earth, but I'm stronger than Jack and Brody combined. I have never let anyone know these things about me because, like I said before, dramatics. Also I have the strange feeling that my abilities have something to do with a very serious thing. Scientists would want to study me, they would cut me open put me back together and do it all over again to see what was so different about me.

I shudder at the thought of that. I've never been a big fan of being cut apart, though never actually having experienced it, I don't believe it would be something I would enjoy.

I heard another scream, this one seemed closer. The hair on the back of my neck started to stand on end and I got that strange hot sensation that I get when I'm unnerved. I leapt out of the tree and went inside before I heard anything else. Brody and Jack followed suit shortly and we spread out about the kitchen to feast upon the junk food I had stashed everywhere in this small room.


	2. The New Guy

I don't know where all these oomans were coming from, but I felt like I was killing them for hours. I knew that was just my imagination and it had only been a few minutes. Finally the onslaught and slaughter alike was over. I started gathering my trophies. I strung up the last of the bodies and looked around. 13. That seems like a good amount for the first few minutes of my first hunt on earth. I wasn't even close to being done though. I have a record to beat. My brothers record on his first hunt was 249 of these oomans. I was going to at least tie with him or perhaps be fortunate enough to surpass it.

Pride was what had driven me for as long as I can remember. Pride in my abilities, pride in the clan I had come from and pride in my race. What it means to be what I am cheers me up if I'm feeling a little down. It doesn't happen often, but everyone has their moments.

I moved on to find my next trophy or set of trophies, however it plaid out I knew I could do it. I found myself on top of a building overlooking the main street of this town. I had originally hoped to go to a more populated area, but my brother told me I would find worthy prey even here because oomans in small areas get bored and that makes them violent. Another factor was that the clan had lost many good warriors in the bigger cities so they had opted to see if I fared better here. I am just part of a test. As long as I can hunt and take my trophies it doesn't bother me.

Not seeing any oomans that sparked my interest, I moved on. After a leap to another building and a short decent to the ground a moment later I made my way, cloaked, to the other side of town. Ending up in a small wooded area I stopped for a moment to decide what I should do now and to let my excitement subside so I could think more clearly. I had started to mull my plan over in my head when I heard a voice. It was followed by laughter and more voices. I peered around the tree I was standing next to in order to see where the voices were coming from. 2 male oomans were talking to each other in their language. I watched them for a moment to decide if they would be good prey. They were tall, well built and seemed to be in decent health. Further investigation showed they had no weapons. That is sort of a disappointment. I was about to head somewhere else when I saw a female approach the 2 males. She was very small in stature, no way would she put up a good enough fight for it to be honorable and she too was unarmed.

Just a few kids. I had my mind made up that they wouldn't be the subjects of my next hunt, yet I couldn't take my eyes off the girl. I scanned her bone structure, then her muscles. There is something very strange about her. Her bones are very dense and her muscles are almost like those of my kind. I watched her movements trying to figure out what held my interest. She moved very fluidly and I could tell her movements were no challenge for her whatsoever. She playfully punched one of her friends and he lightly punched her back. I watched as she jumped on him and they started wrestling around. This definitely held my attention. If she could play fight then she could no doubt fight for real if the situation required it. She dodged out of her friends reach and laughed. She dropped down and kicked his legs out from under him. As he fell she quickly dove on him and pinned him down. They rolled around on the ground for a moment before she got her legs in between her and him and kicked out. She sent him tumbling to the ground. She wasn't even using all of her strength or much of anything as her heart rate had not sped up during the ordeal.

I turned around and thought to myself for a moment. If there was a way to set her up to get her armed, then there would be no dishonor in fighting her. She may prove to be a wonderful subject for my final hunt here in this town. Her ability was inherent, she just had to use it and use it well or I would lose my honor. I silently walked off so not to alarm her or her friends.


	3. Imagination Can Be Dangerous

I swear I had heard something further into the woods. It had been Brody's idea to come out here and get some fresh air. Now I'm totally on edge. What was that that I saw just a moment ago? My blood heated me up and my proverbial hackles were up. Jack looked at me and then in the direction I was looking.

"See something?"

"Probably just my imagination."

"That imagination of your runs rampant."

"Too many video games."

Brody laughed at me and shoved me again. I wasn't in the mood to wrestle anymore. I just want to get home and be or at least feel safe and secure. I need to stop playing that game so much. I think I'm having strange effects from being submersed in a fake world so often. My brain isn't able to discern reality from virtual reality anymore.

"I'm going to head home guys, I have some things I need to get done."

"Like what?"

"Well, clean my house before tomorrow when psycho hose beast comes to check my place, clean the litter box, get more litter, cat food. Fun stuff like that."

They shrugged and Brody hugged me.

"All right. Call or stop by later if you aren't too busy."

"Ok."

I returned his hug and then moved on to hug Jack. I walked back to my house faster than I had planned to. The feeling of being watched is overpowering me right now. Once inside my house I closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. I rearranged the game area and put everything back into its place. With that out of the way I started to pick up random things and put them back where they belonged. My cat was curled up in my recliner. I laughed when I thought about all the battles we had over that chair. It seemed we both liked it and always wanted to sit in it. I usually won being that I could pick him up and just toss him on the couch. On occasion that cute face of his would change my mind and I would resign myself to the couch.

Once my place was organized I went to get into my car. I rarely drive it, but lugging a 40 lb case of cat litter across town, with a 20 lb bag of cat food on my shoulder with ease would look very suspicious to some people. And in a small town like this, you really don't want to be a subject of suspicion. I arrived at the store a few minutes later and went to get my supplies. I decided to pick up a new book while I was here. I have read all my books several times now and it's about time for something fresh. Change is in the air. I stopped and laughed to myself for a moment. I'm very weird in physical and mental attributes.

I loaded everything into the hatch of my car and was about to close it when I felt that something was watching me from a very close proximity. I closed the hatch and looked forward and to my right. There was a man standing a couple feet from my car staring at me. Monsters, natural disasters, explosions, and the idea of ghosts, werewolves and vampires don't even make me flinch, but when it comes to people I get very nervous if they are so close and looking at me the way this man was at the moment. I decided a long time ago that I wont show fear in the face of anything no matter how much it made me want to turn in on myself and disappear. I flashed him a slight smile and got into my car. I turned it on and pulled out of the space then headed out of the parking lot. I glanced in my rearview mirror at the man. He had a strange crooked smile on his face. He suddenly reminded me of the crazy hobo in the game I had been playing only a few hours ago.

"Yeah fucking right."

Video game characters don't materialize out of thin air. This world doesn't have perks like that. It's downside is there is too much logic and too much normality. People kill people, and on rare occasions animals kill people if the people piss off said animals. I stopped at the light on Main and watched as 3 cop cars and 2 ambulances blasted through the intersection and made their way down Henderson Ave. Being the curious creature I am, mix that in with the fact that nothing like this is ever seen in this butt fuck town, add a little of my intuition that this is something I need to see, and here we have the recipe that explains my next action. I made an illegal left turn when the light finally turned green and went speeding after the procession of emergency vehicles. I wasn't worried about getting pulled over because the extent of the cops in this town just drove this way. It seems sad really to only have 3 cop cars, but that's all that is really needed and all that can be afforded.

I pulled onto the side of the road and got of my car. I decided to walk down the alley to get there because there was no doubt the street would be blocked off now. I heard loud voices in the building next to me and realized I was already at the scene of whatever had transpired. I looked in the window and watched as the 2 cops stood there talking to each other. I looked around the room and saw at least a dozen, if not more bodies strung up. They were undoubtedly human bodies because of the initial appearance, but they were skinless. I took a close look at the hollow skinless body that hung nearest to the window I was peering in.

I was put off when I realized I wasn't feeling any of the emotions that a human should feel when gazing upon the eviscerated carcass of another human. No revulsion, no remorse, no dizziness, not much of anything but a morbid fascination with the bloody shell. I stepped back from the window and headed to my car. I had seen enough to decide that either a) someone had gone insane and decided that there needed to be some sacrifices to some pagan god of death in a ritual to bring about a new age of bloodiness, or b) monsters from my video games were materializing out of thin air and doing what they do best. I hope it's option a. Yet part of me did sort of want it to be 'b'. That way I could justify breaking into the local gun shop and arming myself to the teeth in order to blast my way through monster after monster to get to a safe military base and join them in ridding the earth of the threat. That would be more exciting, but more time consuming on my part.

I got back to my car and headed home for real this time. If the video games were becoming reality and I had to fight for my life I wanted to do it after I fed my cat and cleaned his litter box. The wrath of any monster from any video game would be like a calm tea part in a sunny park compared to the wrath of the dreaded psycho hose beast if the litter box wasn't clean. My priorities are clear to me, at least, and something I can actually get done.

As I lugged the litter and the cat food into the house I felt eyes on me. For some reason I felt that if I turned around to look I would be challenged by a huge bull like demon with a huge battle axe and be forced to give up the litter and cat food for a pair of twin swords named Tenso, slash the demon to bits then suck the souls that came out of it into my trusty Oni gauntlet. Yeah, but I'm not Samanosuke Akechi, I don't have a soul sucking Oni gauntlet and Tenso does belong to him. I didn't turn around in case that would insight the demon monster to attack. Instead I walked in and shut the door before it had the chance to cleave my head in two. I fed my cat and curled up in my recliner under my blanket and bade my imagination to stop running around and just sit down with me for a while.


	4. He's Watching

I had watched the girl as she looked into the room where I had hung the bodies of my prey. She didn't have much of a reaction to it. She would definitely be a fun hunt. I knew she had sensed my presence behind her when we was going into her dwelling, but she didn't look for some reason unknown to me. Maybe she's toying with me now. I snorted at that inclination. She doesn't even know what I am.

I kept my vigil outside her house to see if she left again. When the sun went down and there was no movement from inside her home I decided to put the game on hold for now and go find someone else to hunt.

I found my next target in an alleyway. I laughed to myself as I found it to be the man that had startled that girl in the parking lot. The sight of humans gutted and skinned had no effect on her, but when a human was staring at her, her heart began to race and her muscles tensed. He had a woman cornered and he was ripping at her clothing. She was screaming, but no one was coming to aid her. I walked up behind the man and emitted a low growl to let him know I was there. He wheeled around and I uncloaked. I wanted him to see what was killing him. I want him to know in his last few moments what was overpowering him and sending him into death. I sometimes wished I could see more than just heat patterns so I could have seen the look on his face when he looked up at me.

I stepped backwards to dodge the swing of the knife he held in his hand. I shot my hand out and sent him flying backwards into the wall. He came at me again and I dodged another swipe. I was getting bored with this already. I almost wished I was back in that room with oomans coming out of the woodwork. He did something very unexpected next. He flung a brick at me. It bounced off the side of my mask. I roared and charged at him. I used my wrist blades to impale him. I raised him up and felt the tremors of death go through his body. I heard a whimper and remembered the woman. She realized I was looking at her and started to run. I have no reason to go after her.

After gathering my trophy from this man I returned to the ship to clean and mount his skull. I looked at my trophy wall with pride for some time. My brother had been right about the violence of oomans in areas with a small population. I was glad that I had been brought here to do my hunting. The big game would start soon. I just have to get that girl in a situation where she would have a weapon and be able to fight me. Yes, that would be my best hunt yet.


	5. Real Monsters Drink Martinis

When I woke up the next day I felt like I was being suffocated. I shoved my legs out and pushed my arms forward. I started wriggling around. I woke up fully and realized I was tangled up in my blanket and that I had fallen asleep curled up in my recliner. I stopped freaking out and shook my head at myself. Get a grip on yourself.

I decided to not play any video games today. I turned on the TV to see if there was a reality TV show on. As much as I hate them, they might tie me back in with reality. I need to reprogram my brain somehow. The news was on. They showed an alleyway. I saw Angel Mathers, she is the only reporter in this town. One too many. I turned up the volume and listened to her annoying nasally voice.

-I'm standing here at the scene of yet another brutal murder that police estimate happened around two this morning. Police have no leads as to who was involved in this or the horrible murders yesterday afternoon. The only witness to this is in the hospital with minor injuries. She was found in shock several blocks away. The only testament we've managed to get from her was this.-

The screen switched over to a woman laying on a hospital bed. She was staring wide eyed across the room. She looked at the camera suddenly.

"It was a monster! It was the Devil!"

The screen switched back to Angel and I turned the TV off and flung the remote onto the Coffee table. I leapt backwards out of the chair when there was a knock on my door. I crawled across the floor to the door and looked out the peephole. What I saw standing there was scarier than the idea of monsters. It was psycho hose beast. I clawed my way up the wall and unlocked the door. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I opened the door and smiled at her.

"Good morning Delilah."

"Morning? It's after 4 o'clock, what do you do sleep all day?"

She pushed her way past me and I fought the urge to chomp her face off. She had her martini glass in her hand. I'm surprised she hasn't traded that in for an IV system to transfer it right into her blood stream. She started traversing my apartment looking around. She went into the bathroom and came back out. The look on her face didn't betray anything whatsoever. Her eyes were colder than any sub arctic area. She looked around my kitchen, in my cupboards, into my fridge. She started smelling the air. She looked at me and my blood froze. I just stood there dumbly waiting for her to leap on my and start sucking my life fluids out of me.

"Everything seems to be in place."

I replaced that statement with one of my own. 'oh my, this apartment is pristine. I love what you've done with the place.' I kept my face blank. If I laughed she would most definitely suck me dry.

"Rent is due next week."

I grabbed the rent check off my counter and handed it to her.

"I'll pay it now."

She looked down at it and then at me. She took it from me slowly.

"I don't understand how you manage to always have rent, always buy those games of yours, yet you don't work."

"I inherited some money."

"Really. Well some people are just born lucky."

She walked to the doorway and turned around to look at me. I was caught in her hard stare again, not breathing. I swear my heart stops beating when in the sights of this monstrosity.

"I hope there isn't any funny business going on here. If there is I will take every penny you have and throw you out on the street."

"Have a wonderful day Delilah."

She scoffed and made her way back to her house. I shut the door and leaned against it. Thank god that didn't go any worse. Of course considering Delilah's countenance that couldn't have gone any better. I groaned really loud to let out some nervous energy. I flopped onto the couch and remembered what I had seen and heard on the news. -_A monster. The Devil.- _I stared up at the ceiling thinking about that. My video games are coming to life. I'm not the only one seeing these weird things. Could be mass hysteria. Maybe there's something in the water. I laughed when I remembered I don't drink water, ever. I find it gross. I don't care what other people say, it does have a taste and a rather sick one at that. I shuddered at the thought of water.

Times like this call for drastic measures. What they are, I have no idea. I decided to take a nice hot shower to calm myself and see if I can figure anything out whilst in there. I was in the process of washing my hair when I felt eyes on me. My blood started to boil and I went rigid. I turned my head to see what the source of my discomfort was. I saw my cat perched on the sink staring at me. I collapsed onto my knees and exhaled very forcefully.

"Damnations Jubei!"

Yes, I named my cat after an anime character. I started breathing normally again.

"I need to get a grip and a firm one soon."

Or my head is going to explode. I decided maybe the shower wasn't the best place to be. Naked and helpless is not a state I wish to be in right now. I went into my room to get dressed. I did this quickly and grabbed the mop from my pantry and sat sentinel on my couch waiting for the telltale sounds of a zombie invasion. They never came and I relaxed a little. Maybe I've gone completely and utterly insane. -_A monster. The Devil.-_ My momentary release in thinking I was just insane left me hanging there on that proverbial cliff latched onto a root that was snapping. Maybe a walk would help me. Maybe I need some air.

I put my mop back in its designated place and donned my shoes and a hoody. I have about 3 dozen. Even in the middle of the hottest summer I will wear one. Temperature doesn't seem to effect me at all. Only creepy hobos and the psycho hose beast make me hot or cold. My imagination also lends a hand in that.

I made my way down the street towards the middle of town. I ended up all the way on the other side of town by the abandoned mill. I wondered why I ended up here. It wasn't like me to wander this aimlessly and end up at this dilapidated structure. This place had always put me on edge ever since I heard about what had happened here. I very serious fire had been started when one of the machines exploded. The exits were all blocked off and all the workers died. Some were burned to death and others died of smoke inhalation. I stopped and looked up at the foreboding building and a chill ran down my spine. I freaked out when I saw something move past one of the windows on the upper level. No one with any sense goes in there.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I swear I heard the tortured screams of people long dead. I turned around and made my way back across town. Maybe I'll go to the park and hang myself. That sounds good to me.


	6. The Quivers

I was sitting on the floor of the building I was using as shelter during my hunt. The smell of fire and ashes was all around, but it had been a while since whatever it was from had happened. I was looking at my trophies. They filled me with pride. I heard a sound and sensed something outside my shelter. I got up, putting my trophies away, and walked to the window to see what my senses were telling me about.

At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me. When I looked down at the figure standing in front of this building I saw that I was in fact seeing what I thought I was seeing. It was that ooman girl. I knew she saw me for a split second. Her body tensed up and she stopped breathing. This girl is proving to be a good hunter herself. She found me. The idea that she had sought me out made my heart flutter with anticipation. This game of hide and seek was going very well. I can find her and she can find me. I watched her walk away. I have much preparing to do in order to get this started off on the right foot.

I climbed down the side of the building in order to follow the girl. She walked very fast for an ooman. I kept my distance so she wouldn't notice anything. I watched as she walked across the street to a field with strange devices in it. She walked over to sit on a strange chair that was hanging from two chains attached to a large pole. I watched her from a tree branch, waiting for her to do something. She just sat there for a while staring up at the sky. I decided to go use my energy elsewhere. She didn't seem like she was in the mind state for a fight to the death. I got down out of the tree and walked away.

xXx

Ok, that's it. I'm going home and never leaving again. Something just jumped out of that tree and walked away. I knew something was watching me. Stupid me thinking it was only a squirrel. Yeesh. Damn this shit. I got up and started walking very fast towards my house. I got inside and locked then bolted the door. I pushed my couch in front of it, grabbed the mop and went into my room where I wrapped a blanket around myself and sat there with the mop close at hand. I was listening to everything, probably even making up noises in my head. I heard a thump above me and jumped up screaming. I grabbed the mop and looked at the ceiling.

"For fuck's sake!"

It's just Brody being a tard and doing something weird. There isn't a roof over my head, there's another 2 apartments. I flopped back on my bed. I somehow developed a nervous twitch in my eye at some point in time and it's quivering like mad right now. I put my hands over my face and yelled. I've snapped. That's what it is. My brain has just cracked and now I'm completely insane.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah!"

This is awesome, really just truly wonderful.

"Craptastic!"

I rolled over and laid on my stomach with my face smashed into my mattress. I tried to calm down, but my nerves were shot.

I must have passed out at some point in time because I woke up halfway off my bed. I looked around before moving. No glowing red eyes staring at me from the dark corners of my room. I looked under my bed. Nothing peering out at me. I stood up and walked into my living room. I laughed when I saw my couch pushed against my door. Oh yeah, I remember that. I put it back where it was and turned on the TV. There was Angel Mathers and there was another crime scene.

-Earlier today two bodies were found in the woods only a few moments ago.-

I recognize that spot. That's where me and the guys hang out all the time. I got a sinking feeling and turned the TV off. I grabbed my jacket and walked out the door. I went into the woods to that spot. There was a police line and there was Angel Mathers in front of the camera. I walked over and was stopped by one of the police officers.

"You don't want to go in there young lady."

I slowly turned my head towards the police officer and glared. Through clenched teeth I said,

"How do you know what I want to do and what I don't want to do?"

I shoved past him and went to look at the bodies. I shoved one of the paramedics out of the way and knelt down. I took a deep breath and pulled the body bag open. There was Brody's face. I clenched my teeth and closed the body bag again. I didn't have to look at the other one. I knew Jack was in there, just as dead. Maybe it was the crazy hobo, or perhaps the bucket head monster that killed them. Now it was just me in this game. I had to make it to the end. Sound returned to my ears and I slowly stood up. I started walking slowly and methodically back to my house. Angel Mathers stopped me and shoved the microphone in my face. The light from the camera was blinding me.

"Did you know these boys? How close were you to the victims? Do you have any idea what happened?"

I don't know if it was the fact that my two friends were laying in body bags 15 feet away from me, the blinding light from the camera or Angels annoying voice, or perhaps my nerves were wound so tightly that I just needed to get something out, but one of them had to be the reason for what I did. I turned on Angel and screamed in her face then sent my fist flying towards her face. I managed to hit her on the left side of her face on her cheekbone. She flew backwards and landed on her ass hard. I let out a roar and kicked the camera out of the camera man's hands. The cops just stood there and looked at me. I knew they weren't going to do anything for me. Angel pissed a lot of people off, especially the cops because she was always right there, usually in their way. I was standing there breathing heavily for some weird reason and shaking angrily. One of the cops walked up to me.

"Excuse me."

"What?"

He flinched and held out two swords to me.

"These were found near the bodies. Since they were your friends I think you should take them."

"Aren't they evidence?"

"Of what?"

"I don't know. Never mind! Fine! I'll take them!"

I grabbed them and plodded angrily to my house. I don't know if I'm upset that they are dead or more upset that I wasn't around to save them. And what would I have done? Maybe used my vast knowledge of video games to tell them what kind of weapon would have been best to beat what kind of monster, or where to get health items that they needed. No, I would have used my strength and my invulnerability to subdue whatever it was while they got away. Would they have left me there to battle with it alone? No, I don't think so. Maybe together we could have killed it though. Then we could have taken it in to the cops and then a national alert could be sent out.

"Video game monsters on a rampage, beware."

Yeah fucking right. I got home and tossed the swords on my couch and moped into my room. Something has to be done about this. I'm going to be the one to end it. I decided to go back to the old factory and face whatever was in there. I grabbed Brody's Katana and hooked it through my belt loop. I crawled out the bathroom window because it faced the direction I wanted to be going. I silently made my way towards the old factory. I didn't see any light in there, but that didn't mean anything. Demons from hell didn't necessarily need light. I laughed to myself. I don't need light either. I went around the back and climbed up the fire escape. Lot of good it did during the fire. I got to a window and jumped in it. I looked around and then put my hand over my nose. The smell is quite offensive.

I walked down the hall into the main area and looked down from the balcony. I saw what looked like a duffle bag laying down in the corner. Monsters don't carry duffle bags. What the hell is going on here? I saw something move down below me and watched. A very tall weird looking something walked towards the duffle bag. It crouched down and opened it up. It pulled out a skull and started caressing it. I watched it for a moment. This thing is going down.

I could have taken the stairs, or even used the ramp, but no, I had to take a flying leap off the balcony I was on. I landed a few feet from the thing and drew my sword.

"All right ass hole!"

It jumped up and swung around a lot faster than I expected it to. I jumped back and got into a fighting stance.


	7. Face Off

Turning around and seeing her standing behind me with a weapon drawn pushed me over the edge of excitement. She was ready to fight and I'm always ready to fight.

"So you like killing little defenseless boys eh?"

I have no idea what she is talking about, but she seems to be preparing herself.

"I've swatted mosquitoes bigger than you!"

She stopped suddenly and shook her head. She looked at me again and my body started to feel hot and itchy. I ignored it.

"Are you ready?"

She stopped and almost dropped her weapon.

"You can talk?"

"Yes. I can also understand what you're saying."

She did drop her sword this time and it clattered to the floor. Her shoulders slumped.

"Why the hell did you kill my friends? What the hell are you? And why are you following me."

"I didn't just kill your friends if that is what you are thinking. They died fighting like warriors should. I am a Yautja and I came here to hunt oomans. And I'm following you because I want to fight you."

The girl scratched the back of her head and stared at me unblinking.

"Ok. So you aren't a video game character?"

"What's a video game?"

"That answers that question."

I realized we were straying from the fight. I crouched slightly and let out a challenging roar. The girl seemed unimpressed. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised one of her hands slightly.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. You came to earth to hunt us "oomans"."

As she said that she made a strange gesture with her hands.

"So therefore you must be from a different planet which means you are an alien and not a monster from a video game. Ok, ok. I totally understand now. Phew, and I thought I was totally going insane."

Feeling offended that she didn't take my challenge seriously I walked towards her menacingly and grasped her around the throat. I lifted her up and held her in front of my face. I roared again. She blinked a couple times.

"I'm not going to fight you. That would just be ridiculous."

I'm getting a little aggravated right now.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't feel like it."

Her foot came up to my face and she kicked out hard enough to send me stumbling backwards. She landed on her hands and feet and stood up. She picked up her sword and put it back in its sheath.

"What are you doing? Draw that weapon!"

"No. I don't want to."

"Do it!"

"No! I don't have to listen to you."

This was outrageous. How dare she say that. I walked towards her again and swiped at her with my wrist blades. She easily dodged them, but didn't draw her weapon. I went after her again. She sighed and kicked her foot out again. It caught me in the midsection and sent me back into the wall. Her strength. She seems stronger than me. She can't be. She's just an ooman. I went after her again. She stood there not moving and hardly blinking. I threw a punch at her and it hit her chest. We both looked down at my fist. She had caught it. She twisted my wrist and I fell over onto my side. I will not be humiliated like this! I jumped up and stabbed at her with my wrist blades. Usually they would have gone totally through anyone. They didn't go through the bone at all.

"Did I mention that I don't think I'm human?"

"What?"

"Well, as you can see my bones aren't easily broken, I'm stronger than you."

"No you aren't."

"I bet I am. Oh and even though I have two serrated blades in my chest right now, it doesn't really hurt."

I pulled them out of her chest and let them retract. This makes no sense. She looks like a human, acts like a human, for the most part. I turned around and growled. I have to kill her somehow. She's seen me, humiliated me, and knows way too much. I looked at her and she was looking at the holes in her chest.

"You have to die."

"Ok."

She sat down and crossed her legs then closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm dying."

I sighed. She is not cooperating. She stood up and started walking away.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"I'm going home for now. Come find me when you're ready to kill me."

I snorted at her as she walked out. That didn't go as I had planned at all. She refused to fight, then she refused to get injured. I balled up my fists and growled. I will get her. I thought going after her companions would be enough, but once she knew what I was the whole game was ruined. How disappointing.

xXx

I walked out of the factory and down the road. Well that was interesting. I think I almost have it figured out. I'm definitely not human if I could land a jump like that and send a . . .a. . .Yau-whobutty whatty flying across the room. I feel cool all of a sudden. Like I'm big and bad. And also like I feel like I'm being followed. I don't think it's that alien dude. This feels like several pairs of eyes and sounds like several feet and hands. I stopped and turned around. It was a street gang. Great, awesome.

"What do you want guys?"

"Maybe a little fun."

"Well, good luck finding that."

I turned around to leave, but one of the guys ran in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder. My eye twitched and I brushed his hand away. I sighed. One of the guys grabbed the katana and started looking at it.

"Hey, ass hole, give that back."

"Ooohoo, someone has a mouth on her."

"We could always put that mouth to good use."

I was getting annoyed with this already. That sword is mine and he needs to give it back before I kill him. Or I could take it off his corpse. That actually sounds a lot more fun. I felt something building up inside me. I hope that's just adrenaline and not indigestion.

"So, give that back now or you die."

"Big words coming from such a small freak."

Oh, so I'm a small freak now. Before I was just small but now I have the title of small freak. I'm moving up in the world. I think. I felt a hand on my neck. I slowly turned around so the hand was on my trachea.

"You have to get a good grip on my trachea if you're going to choke me. Otherwise it would probably just seem like you're giving me a massage."

The guy looked at me and then his buddies.

"Well, are you going to choke me or what?"

He just stood there.

"Ok, I'm bored with this now."

I shot my hand up and tiger pawed his chin. He flew up in the air and came back down smacking his head on the wall. That would have hurt if he had been conscious. I was tackled and thrown on the ground. I have no idea how many of those bastards were on me. Finally I was picked up off the ground. Each of my arms was held by one guy and the ring leader was standing in front of me. I've seen this in movies before. He's going to punch me while the other guys hold me so I can't defend myself. What a prick. He punched me in the face. It didn't really hurt, it just pissed me off. He punched me in the stomach next.

After about three hits to my face he stopped.

"What the hell? Why aren't you bleeding?"

"Maybe because you aren't hitting me hard enough. Try again, try harder!"

He hit me a few more times. I kicked one leg behind one of the guys and used my newly freed hand to punch the other in the face. I kept hitting him until my hand went through his head. I pulled his brain out and looked at it. I turned to the other punks and grinned.

"Oh my god man! That bitch ain't human!"

"Let's get the fuck out of here!"

They started to run, but I had the scent of blood and was in a frenzy. I chased after them, catching up a moment later. I jumped on one of the guys and his face collided with the pavement. I looked at my hands, more like my claws and let out a roar that sounded more convincing then anything I've ever done before. I grabbed the guy by the hair and lifted his head up.

"You want to put my mouth to good use? Ok."

I bit down on the side of his face and ripped away. He started screaming. I shoved his face into the ground and started grinding it against the rough surface. He stopped moving and I jumped up. Now where did that other fuck head go? I sniffed the air to find him. I looked at my claws and got an idea. I ran and jumped. I jammed my claws into the wall and started climbing up. This is the most awesome thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm not playing a video game. This is the real shit. I got to the top of the building and ran across the top. I heard footsteps below me. I looked down and saw the guy in an alleyway. He was crouched next to a trash can shivering. I could smell his fear from here. I started circling him and growling. I finally jumped off the top of the building and landed in front of him. He started screaming his head off. He stood up to run but he fell over. I crouched down and poked his head. He was dead. Weird.

I shot out of bed the next day and looked around. I looked at my hands. They look normal enough. I have a feeling that was just a really weird dream. I walked into my bathroom and realized it definitely wasn't a dream. There was a the blood soaked towel I had used to clean the blood off my hands and there was the katana laying on the edge of the tub. I collapsed on the floor.

"Oh fuck."

I crawled into the living room and turned the TV on. I have a feeling I know what I'm going to see. Yep, there she was, in front of the crime scene. I smiled when I saw the huge bruise and the swollenness of her face. I also saw the crack in the lens of the camera. I did that! Yay!

-The terror ensues as 3 boys were found dead early this morning by a man that was walking his dog. One of the boys suffered a heavy blow to his face that crushed his skull. His brain was found a few feet away. The other boy seemed to have had part of his face bitten off and then ground into the sidewalk. The third boy had suffered cardiac arrest. Something had scared him to death.-

I sat there for a few moments contemplating what to do next.

-These attacks seem to be inhuman. Police have no leads as to what did this. The search goes on.-

I turned the TV off and there was a knock on my door. I went to the peephole and looked out, I was expecting the cops, but it wasn't. I opened the door.

"Afternoon Delilah."

She looked at me and I felt my blood go cold. Why she has that effect on me, I have no idea.

"I heard about what happened to your friends. And I saw what you did to that reporter girl."

I thought she was going to eat my alive now.

"Good shot. Her face was wrecked."

"I. . .yeah. . .um, thanks."

Delilah turned and walked out again. I closed the door and ran my hands down my face. I feel like I've just been marked for death or something. I sank to the floor again and crawled to the couch. My legs just aren't working for me right now. I climbed up and laid there not moving for a long time. What the hell am I going to do?


	8. The Demon Within

I still couldn't exactly grasp what had happened last night. I had followed her and saw the whole thing. She had changed into something. Something that was malicious and bloodthirsty. Something with agility, strength and wrath. What is she? Maybe hunting her isn't the best idea. I could learn many things from her. She would be better to study than to kill. If there are other things on this planet besides oomans that could potentially lead to very exciting hunts for me and my clan. I would be honored greatly for finding new intelligent and dangerous prey. Whatever that girl is has the ability to look and seem like an ooman, but her strength isn't compromised. It's incredible.

I just stood there thinking about that for a while. I decided to contact the clan leader and tell him about the girl. Afterwards I went to look for another trophy. I went back to the building empty handed. There was no one out that was worthy prey. This night has been very disappointing. I have to find that girl. I will go to her dwelling tomorrow and confront her again. Only this time I don't plan to fight her. That may happen, it wouldn't be a bad thing if it did, but she didn't seem to want to fight me this time. It wasn't much of a fight. She beat me down with no problem. I wasn't even able to lay a hand on her. I sat down and took one of my trophies out and looked at it for a long time. The structure of the skull was so like the girls, only a little bigger. What made her so different? It had to be the fact that she could transform. What the hell is she?

I had never seen anything like her. The clan leader told me to capture her if I could and bring her back to study. Who knows how many more creatures like her are out there. She could be the only one, or she could be one of hundreds, thousands. She may be able to tell me. I doubt it though. She seemed just as surprised by her transformation as I was and as those oomans were. I've seen groups of ooman males subdue females many times before. She was not one to be dominated. She was something to be feared by oomans and something to learn from by my people.

I stretched out on the floor and closed my eyes. I can think more about her tomorrow. For now I feel like sleeping.

I woke up and smelled an ooman. I growled and looked around to see where the scent was coming from. I didn't see anything in the immediate area. I heard footsteps and grabbed my spear. It is definitely my favorite weapon and I'm better with it than any of the other weapons in my possession. I walked to the ledge that overhung the center room. I saw 3 ooman males standing in the center of the room. I scanned them for any weapons. Two of them had guns and the third had a large knife. This could be interesting. I growled and they looked around for what was making the noise. I moved back against the wall and cloaked myself. I heard the oomans talking nervously.

I circled around them a few times to determine my attack. I jumped down behind them and roared. One of them pulled his gun out and shot at me. The bullet ricocheted off my shoulder armor and embedded itself in the wall to my right. I extended my wrist blades as I walked towards them. The one with the knife took it out and swiped at me harmlessly.

After killing them I prepared my trophies. It's time to go after that girl now. Crossing town quickly I went around the back of the building she occupied. I looked in the window and saw her sitting down on a couch. I walked around to the side to get into a different window if I could.

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I heard him at the window and decided to scare him. He can't scare me anymore. I know what he is and aliens don't scare me at all. I didn't know how I knew it was him, but I did. Maybe because I can remember his energy pattern or something insane like that. These past couple days have been really weird. Ever since that night I'm even more strange. My hearing is even better, my eye sight has improved and I can tap into people's energy so I know who's at the door without even having to look.

I went out my front door and went around behind him. I crouched low to the ground and waited for a second. I leapt on him and we went tumbling. He let our a roar and I slammed him to the ground. I looked down at him and I could feel the look on his face. Shock.

"What do you want?"

"How did you know I was out here?"

"I could sense you. I know you now and you have a very strange energy pattern."

"What?"

"Never mind. What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Is this going to turn into me kicking your ass again?"

"No. I have a proposition for you."

"I'm not going to have sex with you no matter how much you pay me. I'm not a whore."

"That isn't what I mean."

"Then what sort of proposition?"

"Will you let me up?"

I stood up and backed away from him. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked up at him after he stood up.

"My people want to know what you are."

"That's nice."

"I've been ordered to take you back to our planet to be studied."

"What?"

That's when his arm shot out and I felt a prick in my neck. The world started to spin in on itself a moment later. I turned around to try and run and fell flat on my face. I tried to drag myself across the ground because I had lost all feeling in my legs. The son of a bitch paralyzed me. Everything started to waver and get almost static-like in quality. My eyes closed and I thought I was about to die.

My eyes snapped open. I tried to move my arm but I couldn't. It felt like it weighed about 2 tons. I turned my head to the side and saw a wall with strange designs on it. With more effort than it should have taken I turned my head to the other side and saw movement. I focused on it and saw that it was the Yau-whats-it thing. I was about to punch him when I felt another prick in my neck and the world once again started spinning in on itself and then started to go black.

I felt a pressure on my head and shot my arm out. I ended up grabbing onto an arm. I tried to throw whoever was connected to it, but all I managed to do was move the arm a little bit. I didn't feel I could really even open my eyes anymore so I didn't bother. I shot my arm out hoping that it would connect with something, but it didn't. I gave up and let my arm fall to my side.

"You need to calm down."

"Go fuck yourself."

I held my middle finger up in my favorite salute for a second before my arm collapsed to my side.

A little while later I felt like I was being carried. That wouldn't make much sense, but that's how I felt.

In and out of consciousness I drifted for a while longer before I became acutely aware of my surroundings. The noises, the scents, the feeling of the place. I opened my eyes and saw that my surroundings had indeed changed. This is pretty fucked. I was in the middle of a room, surrounded by several Yautja. I finally remembered what they are called, hah. I lifted my head and saw that they had my stomach open and were fiddling around with my intestines.

"Hey, you should put those back in there."

They all looked at me. I saw one of them come at me with a syringe and I smacked it away and jumped up. My insides fell out so I picked them up and shoved them back in. I folded the skin on my stomach over my guts and backed myself into a corner. I picked up a scalpel like instrument and held it out in front of me.

"If any of you comes near me I'm going to impale you on this somehow."

My head is so heavy and doesn't even feel like just ashell of bone containing my brain. More like steel or iron. Something really heavy like that. I suddenly realized how wrong this situation is. My hand is the only thing holding my guts in me right now. I fell onto my knees and dropped the scalpel. I fell over on my side and then rolled over onto my back. I heard a laugh that sounded way too hysterical for it to be me, but it was. I was laughing and I wasn't stopping. I lifted my head and looked down at my insides. I never really cared to know what they looked like, but now I don't really have a choice. I let my head fall back down and I closed my eyes. I think it's just about time for me to die now.


	9. Insides on the Outside

I heard a clamor in the lab and went in. I saw the girl on the floor in the corner. I roared at the incompetent scientists and walked quickly over. I lifted her up and put her back on the table. I administered a sedative and looked at one of the young scientists.

"Put her back together now."

He nodded and they all started putting her insides back the right way. They closed the wound and I lifted the girl up and carried her out of the room. I took her to my room and laid her on the bed. Her breathing was shallow, it was almost like she was trying not to breath. I sat there watching her for a long time. Her breathing became more regular as time went by and I started to feel more confident that she would be all right. I wonder if those scientists found out anything about her. I wouldn't expect them to, they are only in training and don't know what to do yet.

I was lost in thought when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the girl as she sat up and looked around. Her gaze fell on me and she sighed audibly.

"I'm not dead, am I?"

"No."

"Damn. I'll just have to try again later."

She stood up and so did I.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry."

"I would suggest that you stay in here until we get back to my home planet. I will bring you some food."

I walked out the door and across the ship to the kitchen. I was rummaging around for anything that would be suitable for the girl. What is her name? I will have to ask her when I return to the room. I gathered together a plate of meat and fruit for her. If she doesn't like this then she's out of luck. This is mostly what we have until we land. On my way back to the room I ran into Ja'tura. He bowed his head and then motioned to the plate.

"Late night snack?"

"It's for the girl creature."

"Oh. What is she like anyway?"

"Exasperating."

I walked past him. He ended up following me back to the room. I walked in and the girl grabbed the plate out of my hands and started shoving food in her mouth. Ja'tura laughed.

"Wow. I expected her to be a bit bigger. How could something that small be worth learning from."

As I expected the girl turned her head and looked right at Ja'tura. He was too busy laughing to notice the chair flying at his head. It hit him in the face and sent him back into the wall. He wasn't laughing anymore and the girl was already crouching on his chest. She was chewing a bite of food methodically. She moved her face closer to his and swallowed.

"Maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut."

She stood up, walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. Ja'tura got up and looked at me. I shoved him out of the room and stood there in the hall with him for a moment.

"I didn't know she could understand us."

"With her you shouldn't assume and be prepared for anything."

"What if she decides to try and kill us?"

"She wont."

"How do you know?"

"I have no reason to believe that she wants to cause anyone any harm. She could of killed me many times, but she didn't."

"Well I hope you're right. I would hate to see what the clan leader would do to you if you got us all killed."

I laughed and looked at Ja'tura disbelievingly.

"You revel in the idea of him tearing me apart."

I walked back into the room and saw the girl crouching on the counter.

"What are you doing?"

She looked at me and growled.

"If you are smart you would let me go home."

"You have much to do on my planet."

"You're a fucking monster, you know that right?"

For some reason the brunt of her comment hit me harder than I would ever expect anything to. I realized that if someone had taken me from my home planet, against my will, and subjected me to a live autopsy I would be a little angry also. No, I would be utterly vexed. There wouldn't be anything that anyone could say that would lessen the blow of it. I closed my eyes and shook my head. She's right. I should just let her go.

"What is your name?"

"Lena. Not that you care."

"If I didn't care I wouldn't ask."

"Just let me go."

"I will as soon as we get what we want from you. That will be soon enough, you'll see."

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I woke up with a strange tingling sensation in my stomach. I looked at it and saw that my wounds were completely healed. I realized the brightness of the world around me and took a look around. I seemed to be on earth. On the front lawn of my apartment complex. What the hell? I was just on a spaceship and now I'm lying on my lawn. Oh dear god, I've gone insane and now I'm having very realistic hallucinations. No. . .if it was only a hallucination. . .then where did the scar come from. As soon as I closed my front door behind me I thought of the answer to my quandary. Sometimes people that suffer from extreme hallucinations will act out against themselves and cause the wounds that they are seeing. There's the answer. Apparently I sliced my stomach open all on my own and put it back together with some strange substance that instantly cauterized the wound. That's exactly right. . .No. . .That's completely insane.

I threw myself on my couch and smashed my face into the cushion. I need a therapist and damned good one. I'm in need of a serious psychic evaluation and fast. I started paging through the yellow pages trying to find a good therapist in this little shit hole town. There were 4 listed. I closed my eyes and put my finger on one of them. Dr. Umerian. That sounds like something out of Star Trek. Sounds like someone that specializes in evaluating aliens. My blood ran cold when I thought about aliens. Obviously I shouldn't even think that word. It freaks me out. I dialed the number and talked to the secretary.

My appointment was going to be in three days. What the hell is going to happen to me for three days? What damage am I going to cause myself? I decided against visiting a shrink. I'm going to commit myself. I'm a 51/50 and should get off the streets. I got in my car and drove to the Happy Side Home. Our very own loony bin. I went inside and walked to the secretary at the desk. She smiled at me.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"I would like someone to be committed."

"And who would that be?"

"Myself."

She stopped smiling for a moment and then resumed her calm composure. I could see her façade cracking around the edges.

"And why do you think you need to be institutionalized?"

"I'm a 51/50, I'm having serious hallucinations and acting out against myself."

I lifted up my shirt to show her the scars.

"I cut myself open and put myself back together. Do you see that?"

She nodded and hit a button. Two men walked out. They were wearing light blue smocks with white edging. They looked at the secretary and then at me.

"She wants our services."

One of the men held a straitjacket and I slipped into it as willingly as anyone ever has. He fastened the arms behind me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Right this way."

He took me down a long hallway. It seemed like we were walking forever. He opened a door and showed me in. It was a very handsome room. Padded walls, padded floors, a padded ceiling for some reason. I walked to the center and sat down cross legged. I looked at the man and smiled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He closed the door and I heard the automatic lock engaged. I laid down and stared at the ceiling waiting for another hallucination to hit me. It never happened. A little while later another orderly walked in and put some pills in my mouth. I swallowed them and showed him that I did so. He smiled contentedly and walked out of the room again. I laid back down and closed my eyes. All right Lena, you're in good hands now.

I woke up to a loud slam and screaming. I couldn't see anything but I could hear it. Some man was being taken into one of the rooms parallel to my own. By the screaming it would seem he was a woman, but I know better. I sighed and rolled over to try and fall back to sleep, but he would not stop screaming. I was tempted to yell at him, but I don't think he would hear me. I tuned it out and fell back into a dreamless, drug induced sleep.

The next time I woke up, it was to my own door opening. I looked up wondering what this was all about. The man was dressed in a suit and tie and looked very professional. He smiled and nodded at me.

"Hello Lena, I'm here to help you in any way I can."

"Good. I need a lot of help."

"We'll get through it."

Wow, this is all very rehearsed. I bet he even has a speech memorized for people that tell him to fuck off. I stood up and followed him out the door, down the hall, out another door into a large garden. It would be a pretty scene if it weren't for the 40 ft. walls with razor wire curled around the top of it. He motioned for me to sit down in a chair and I did.

"Would you like to get the straitjacket off?"

"No, I think it would be better to leave it on. I don't know when my hallucinations are going to strike and I don't want to end up dicing you."

"Well that's very thoughtful, thank you."

I didn't mean for it to be thoughtful. I just don't want to be charged for manslaughter. Dumb ass. He asked me so many questions about my state of mind, what I thought about trivial things and who my parents are, if there was any history of mental illness in my family, blah, blah, blah. After a while he finally got down to my hallucinations. It was a long process and he kept getting a strange, almost knowing, look on his face. It was almost like some of the things I was saying had some relevancy. He got especially interested when I started to describe the thing that abducted me in my hallucination. He leaned forward in his chair and stared at me very intensely. I stopped talking and looked at him.

"Um. . .what?"

"So this creature. . .it has tan/green skin, long dred-like hair and is very tall?"

"Yeah, it was like almost 8 ft. tall."

"What kind of weapons did you say it had?"

"It had a spear, a weird little metal thing with spikes on it. . .um. . .a really weird looking knife, there was a gauntlet on its arm with long serrated blades that could pop out and some weird computer thing on its other arm."

"And you say they operated on you."

"Yeah, well, that's what my hallucination was about."

"Are you sure this was all just a hallucination?"

I looked at him and frowned. I had to think about that for a minute. Either he knows something that will totally blow my whole idea that I'm just imagining all this and ruin my chances of getting closure, or he's trying to test how insane I am. We sat there staring at each other for a minute. I looked over by a tree in the shadow of the wall and thought I saw something. I stared at it hard. I blinked and it was gone.

"So?"

I jumped and snapped my head towards the doctor. My heart was racing. That's not normal.

"It seemed real enough to me."

He nodded and wrote something down on his notepad. He smiled at me and stood up.

"I have another appointment. If you want we can do a follow up to this."

"I think I've talked about it enough."

"Well, if you change your mind, just let one of the orderlies know and they will pass a message to the secretary."

I nodded and watched him walk off. I looked back over to the tree to see of I could figure out what made that weird whatever. There was nothing there except a tree and the wall. That's it. I sighed and laid down on the ground. This is the life.


	10. Monsters in the Closet

When I came backdown to this planet I didn't expect her to be where she was. I thought she would be in her dwelling where she is safe. Away from all the oomans that wouldn't understand and want to kill her for beingwhat she really is. What is she doing? I set her free and she goes and gets herself locked up by those oomans? She just keeps getting herself into these situations. She needs to be properly trained. Someone needs to help her learn the ways of a hunter. She is obviously not an ooman, she obviously has strange powers. A creature that can fight like she can and that can change forms has the right to live as an honorable hunter. She has to learn to control herself. She needs guidance. I should be the one to show her the way. I wouldn't want her to turn into something like a bad blood. That would be a very disappointing thing. I found her, so I shall help her.

I feel I should be the one to get her out of there. Maybe it's my fault she was locked up in that strange prison. I have to get her out of there. I have to take her back with me to my home planet this time. She'll be much better off there where I can look out for her.

I stopped walking and stood there thinking for a moment. Why do I care so much about where and how she is? She isn't my mate, never will be, she isn't my suckling so she isn't really my responsibility. She's just a strange girl that has a few interesting attributes and strange power. She's inconsequential. Still, I would rather have her where I can see her, train her and take care of her. She could be an invaluable asset to my people. She can learn from us and us from her. Every good hunter needs a hunting partner at one time or another. Two hunters are better than one in some cases. If the hunters that died on this pathetic little planet had had another hunter with them, they would have probably been victorious and would not have met their end by the hands of an ooman.

I will get her out of that place and I will do it soon. Whether she likes it or not, she's going to my home planet with me this time no matter what she says or how much she protests. It is better there for her. I can teach her to calm her blood lust and use it to her advantage and use it honorably. That would be the best thing I could do for her.

Now I just have to figure out when I'm going to do this. The sooner the better. The ship will be leaving the planet soon anyway. Tonight I will rescue her and we will leave this place.

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Later on I ended up in the 'play room' as it was called. There was foosball, ping pong, a TV, puzzles, a few people were sitting at a table drawing with charcoal. I was planted in front of the TV. I had been semi released from the straitjacket so I could smoke. One hand was untied, the other was still firmly behind my back. I felt all right. No hallucinations lately. Maybe this was a good idea after all. Maybe I just needed a change of environment. I thought back to my hallucination about that. . .Yautja. He had been taking me to his planet. That would have been a huge change in environment. I was just trying to tell myself that I needed to get away from my world for a while.

I felt eyes on me and turned my head to see who was looking at me. It was an older lady with frizzy white hair and a birdlike scowl on her face. As soon as I looked at her she walked over to me and stood there leering over me like she was about to peck my eyes out, or at least try to, with her large pointy nose.

"Yes?"

"You have the mark. You're one of them."

I snickered and looked at her again.

"You're insane."

"You've seen them, haven't you?"

"What exactly am I supposed to of seen?"

"The hunters. They come here to hunt us. They want our skulls. I've seen them. So have you. I know you have. Tell them you've seen them too!"

"Seen what hunters?"

"The ones from the stars."

She lowered her head and looked around suspiciously as if the room was suddenly alive and sneaking in on her. And in a very low and sinister sounding voice she spoke her next words.

"The Yautja."

At that I leapt out of the chair backwards and fell on my ass. I got up and pointed my one free hand at her.

"You insane old bat! Those are my hallucinations, not yours!"

One of the orderlies came over and put his hand on the older woman's shoulder.

"Come on your majesty, lets go back to your room. It's time for your sponge bath."

I stood there, pressed tightly against the wall and tried to forget everything she just said to me. 'hunters from the stars. The Yautja'. Old bat. Those are mine. Not hers. She could only know about that if she was a) inside my head, or b) she had seen them. Then that would mean they are real, not just myself acting out against me. Which means I'm not insane. That would burst the comfy little bubble that I've put myself in and I don't want that to happen.

I slid down the wall and sat there with my eye twitching. Maybe those things are real. Maybe I really was abducted. Maybe they were the ones that caused this scar on my stomach. Maybe I'm on my way to a mental overload. I heard Angel Mather's voice and twitched. I crawled back over to the chair and climbed into it. She was standing in front of a building.

-Just when we thought the violence was over, here we are at another crime scene where 4 alleged gang members were found just minutes ago by a passerby. Police suspect it is the same man that had been murdering people last month. The bodies were strung up in the same fashion and the heads removed.-

That woman's voice came into my head again. 'they want our skulls, I've seen them.' Blasted woman! Shut up! I rolled over and shoved my head into the chair cushion. Why can't this just go away?

'Freetime' was over and I was led back to my room. The door was shut and I laid on my bed and stared at the plain white ceiling. The door opened again and one of the orderlies walked in with my pills. I swallowed them and closed my eyes. Ready for sleep. Tomorrow when I wake up I will have forgotten all about that stupid birdlike woman and maybe play some foosball. That will be fun.

I was awakened when I felt arms lifting me up. I groggily looked around. I saw the ground and the back of someone's legs. They were grey/green/tan, speckly and I was really far off the ground. Oh no. . .not another hallucination. I closed my eyes to try and make it go away. I still felt like I was being carried. I rolled off the shoulder of the Yautja and landed on my side. I looked up at him.

"You're just a hallucination. I can control you. Now go away."

"Don't be weird."

He lifted me up again and kept walking. Well that didn't work. Son of a bitch. My body suddenly decided to go unconscious.

When I was up and about again I was in a cage. This just gets better by the minute. I wonder if I'm going to hallucinate being given a live autopsy again. That would be boring though since I've already been through that. Who knows what they're going to do to me this time. I really don't want to find out, but I haven't been able to stop my hallucinations thus far.

What if they aren't hallucinations?

That would be bad. That would mean I'm in real danger. That would mean there are aliens. That would mean that I don't have any control whatsoever of what happens to me. I'm doomed. No way. This is just a hallucination. I mean, there aren't really aliens. But I know there are. I've always known that earth wasn't the only planet in the universe that has life on it. And I know that there isn't just one universe. There has to be other planets, other places and other life forms. I just happen to have been kidnapped by one. Now what the hell am I going to do?


	11. Undisputed Pain in the Ass

I walked back into the room I had put her in earlier. She looked at me and her face turned hot and she growled. I held my hands up to let her know I wasn't going to hurt her.

"Calm down."  
"Why the fuck should I calm down? You're real. Not just a hallucination and you've kidnapped me."

"Well. . ."

"Again! I told you to let me go. To leave me alone. But did you listen? Oh. . .no. . .Of course not!"

"I saved you this time. Those oomans were holding you prisoner in that strange place."

"No! They weren't! I put myself in there."

"What? Why?"

"Because I thought that I was insane and having delusions. But now my life just got worse because you aren't just in my head. You're real."

"You seem to have a problem with me."

"Of course I have a fucking problem with you. You invaded my life and fucked everything up."

"You're the one that came after me."

"You were hunting me! You were following me around, of course I went after you. I should have fucking killed you."

"Maybe you should have!"

I roared and turned away from her.

"I'm doing you a great honor and you're being despicable."

"Go fuck yourself!"

I roared again and walked out of the room. I stormed down the corridor to my bunk and sat on the bed. That horrid little monster. She will have to be taught a lesson soon. She cannot speak to a Yautja in that manner and get away with it. I was wrong to go and 'save' her. I should have just let the oomans do what they wanted to with her. Maybe they would have put her out of my misery. Oh well. If she doesn't shape up soon she'll get what is coming to her. The trials will surely get her to respect us, if they don't kill her.

My door opened and Su'retha walked in. I stood up and greeted her.

"How long until we reach Lau'thalus?"

"Not long now. You seem tense."

"I am."

"What happened? The girl still mouthing off?"

"Yes. She doesn't understand I'm going her a favor. She doesn't belong on that planet with those oomans. She's something much different than them."

"Maybe she doesn't care if she's different. She probably just wants to live a normal life and not worry about what she is."

"That doesn't matter now. She will be taught how to fight like us and how to use her powers honorably."

"Why do you care so much about her?"

I looked at Su'retha and snorted.

"I don't care very much about her. I just want to know what kind of powers she possesses."

"It's really hard to believe that you are just curious. There's something else. I know there is."

The ship landed and I went to collect the girl. She was pacing the length of her cage. When she saw me she stopped and lowered her head. She bared her teeth and growled at me. I rolled my eyes and opened the cage.

"Be nice. We're going to be talking to the elders and if you say anything to them you'll be dead before you know it."

"Oh yeah? Who's going to kill me? You? You weren't able to before, what makes you think you could now?"

"Keep in mind we are on my home planet now. There are many more Yautja than just me. They'd gang up on you."

She huffed and dropped her head.

"Fine."

I shoved her forward and we walked towards the exit. I stepped off the ship into the bright midday suns. Lena grumbled something as I shoved her forward again. We walked into the city and straight into the temple where the elders would be. They looked at me. I bowed to them and kept my eyes to the floor.

"I see your mission was successful."

"Yes elder."

"Good. So this is the strange creature you told us about. She looks like an ooman."

"Yes elder, but I swear to you she isn't. She has immense power. She can transform from her ooman form into another."

"Very interesting. I guess there is no other way to find out than to put her through the trials."

"Elder. . .she might die. She doesn't know how to control her powers."

"I can't think of a better way for her to find out how to. We become our true selves in the face of death. Prepare her for what she must do. The trials will start in one hour."

"Yes elder."

I turned and pushed Lena forward.

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I turned around and looked up at him.

"What the hell are the trials? What does he mean prepare me and what do you mean I might die?"

"Shut up. I'll tell you later."

"Oh no, you'll tell me now."

"You're causing a scene."

"Do you think I give a flying fuck? Tell me what's going on right now!"

He roared and backhanded me. I stumbled back and landed on my ass. I looked at him and glared. I felt my blood boiling. I got up and charged at him. I hit him and he fell over backwards. I rolled over sideways and kicked him with my foot. He jumped up and leapt at me. He landed on my back and stood up. He held me by the arms of my straitjacket. God damn it!

"Let me go ass hole!"

He lifted me up by the jacket and carried me down the street. All the yautja that were outside were staring at us. I growled as I was carried past them. They started talking amongst themselves about me. Bastards. I should kill them all. Yeah right. There's thousands of them and only one of me. I guess I'll just have to let this go for now. Once I get out of this thing that's a different story. All the way across town I was ridiculed and glared at, and carried. Finally the journey ended and I was tossed onto a couch like piece of furniture in a decent sized. . .plant pod thing. What the fuck? I sighed and looked at him.

"What the hell are the trials and why the hell are you trying to get me killed?"

"The trials will be nothing for a creature like you. You can handle it."

"What are the trials?"

"They are tasks that warriors must complete."

"Did you do them?"

"Well, no."

I'm starting to get annoyed.

"So basically it's just some place to toss the rubbish and hope that they die. Is that it? I'm not exactly copasetic with that."

"It's for the weaker yautja to prove themselves worthy of staying as part of the clan."

"This is bullshit."

"You complain too much."

"No I don't."

"The only thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth has been whining."

I glared intensely at him.

"I wonder if all creatures of your type whine as much as you do. Maybe that defines your species."

I don't think he is quite understanding how much he is making me mad right now.

"I mean, you wont get anywhere in life going on about how much everything sucks."

I let out a roar and ripped out of my straitjacket. I ran at him and took him down with a flying leap. I grabbed his throat and started slamming his head into the ground. He punched me in the face and I flew sideways. I hit the wall hard.

"I think you'll be fine."

I folded my arms over my chest and pouted since there wasn't anything else I could do at the moment. He's just egging me on right now. I'm not going to play into his little game.

The trials awaited me. I wasn't expecting to live through them. Once I saw the weird gorilla type monster thing pacing and foaming at the mouth in the arena I was about to be thrown into, I gave up hope. The door was opened and I was shoved in. The door shut behind me and at the noise the monster turned towards me. It was only about 6 times my size, no big deal. It looked at me for a moment without moving. I thought maybe we were just going to leave each other alone. That's when it tilted its head back and let out a horrid shriek.

I ran as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was supposed to go, but I was going. I felt a large hand around my leg and fell on my face. The . . .thing. . .held me up to its face and sniffed me. It licked me. I thought I was going to vomit as its thick saliva covered me. I wriggled out of its grasp and hit the ground. It grabbed for me again and I kicked its hand away. It roared again and jumped over me. I changed direction and it swiped at me.A hugeforearm hit my midsection and sent me flailing backwards into a wall. I started to feel something strange building up in me. I remembered the night I had transformed. If I could do it again, maybe I could tear this weird rabid gorilla monster apart. Yeah...right. I closed my eyes and tried to feed whatever was going on with my body. I felt it reshaping itself.


	12. It's Over

I saw the sudden change in her countenance and posture as she started to transform herself. Maybe she will survive this. Before she could fully transform the goram sent her sailing backwards into the wall of the stadium. I grimaced at the sound it made. As she slid down the wall and landed in a crouch I saw that she had created a dent in the stone. Many Yautja's bones have been shattered against those walls, but never have any of them cracked the wall. I saw astonishment in the face of the elders. The goram lumbered towards Lena menacingly. She wasn't moving. I thought that she might be giving up. The creature shot its arm out to crush her against the wall, but she leaped straight up into the air a split second before. The stadium shook at the impact of the blow. I watched in fascination as Lena, in her new form, kicked off the wall and landed on the beast's face. She started tearing and kicking at it in a fury. Blood gushed out of the goram's throat a moment later and then one of its eyes was torn out by Lena's claws. The monster threw itself back and Lena jumped clear of it. Everyone had gone completely silent, no more jeering, no more cheering, nothing. The monsters last final gurgling cries could be heard very clearly echoing throughout the stadium.

If I had known the price I would have to pay for bringing her here, I would have left her alone completely. I curse my curiosity. This is ridiculous. Now the arbitrators will never stop until Lena and I are caught and punished according to the yautja law. The law of my people never seemed too harsh, of course, that was before I was on the wrong side of it. I looked at Lena, why did she have to kill the elders? Would it have been so hard to just finish the trials?

Lena was glaring at me with intensity. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. She hadn't blinked in over ten minutes and I knew that the slightest movement might set her off. I had just gotten her to stop frenzying. I realized I had forgot to breath and inhaled. Lena jumped at me and bit down on my shoulder. I roared and backhanded her across the room. She rebounded from the wall and was on me again with her claws in the wound she had just inflicted and her teeth gnashing on my arm. If it wasn't there, her teeth would be in my throat. I kicked my foot out and sent her into the wall again. This time she stayed where she was. She was breathing heavily.

"I hope you realize you've condemned us both to die."

I saw a drop of my blood fall from her chin to the floor and soak into fiber of the floor. Lena's gaze met mine.

"You started it."

"What?"

"You're the one that had to chose to involve me in this stupid game."

"This isn't a game Lena!"

She recoiled at that and slid down the wall.

"I'm still waiting to wake up from this."

"I wish you would."

She looked at me again with her brow furrowed.

"Maybe if you wake up from it then I will have my life back."

She rolled her eyes.

"Life. What is the point anyway? What was so grand about the way you were living before? It seemed to me you were just a mindless drone."

I thought of the Kainde Amedha and growled at her.

"You need to be careful how you classifly me."

"Get off it, will you? You act like you're so great, like your race is the best, you are so proud of what you are, but when it comes down to it all, you're just another trivial race taking up space in the universe."

I stood up and roared at her.

"What makes you think you can speak to me like that? My race is the strongest there is! You're the weakling!"

"I'm not the one bleeding all over the floor."

I threw my spear at her. It went through her side and anchored her to the wall. She roared and tried to pull it out, but it was stuck in there. I staggered towards her and thought I was going to kill her. I raised my knife and while I was bringing it down she ripped away from the spear and headbutted me in the throat. I staggered backwards, coughing. If she had just agreed to do this back when we were on Earth, a lot of time could of been saved.

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For some reason I knew I wasn't going to make it through this fight. I was actually feeling pain in my side where the spear had been. I was feeling weak and cold as well. I suppose that even with the abilities I have, if I don't let myself rest and if I bleed out too much then I will expire. That doesn't matter. As long as I take him down with me, my death wont be pointless. I dove at him and knocked him to the ground. I started ripping and tearing at his throat and stomach. I felt a pain in my back and turned my head. He had just stabbed me. I roared and threw myself onto the ground. I wriggled around until I became too weak to move. I turned my head towards him and saw that he was looking at me also.

"Looks like this is it for both of us."

He nodded. He opened the panel on his wrist computer and began to activate his self destruct. I knew what he was thinking. If those arbitrators do find us like this, they wont let us die, they will punish us their way.

The countdown started and he took my hand. I suppose in a strange way, he had been the love of my life. He did the best thing anyone could have done for me. He showed me who and what I really was.

I closed my eyes and welcomed my end.


	13. Recalling Failure

It seems that a lot of the time things don't go the way we want them to or plan them to.

When I opened my eyes I was lying on a table. My hands were anchored as well as my feet. I turned my head and saw a set of monitors on the wall. They were flashing in a strange way, strange symbols. I've seen them somewhere before, but where?

I turned my head the other way and saw something sitting on a chair that was pressed against the wall. Something short with long arms. A fuzzy head. It looked at me.

"Can you understand me?"

I nodded and looked at the ceiling again.

"Where am I?"

"You are in the reconditioning room at our medical facility. You were brought in because you had very bad injuries. The arbitrators will want to know you are awake."

"Ok, then maybe you should tell them. I'll just lay here."

She reached one of her ridiculously long arms over and pressed a button. A moment later a voice crackled through the device.

"Yes?"

"The subject is awake."

The door opened and three very tall beings entered. The one in the front had on a shiny gold colored helmet.

"Hello."

"Where is the traitor?"

"Who would that be then?"

He looked at the others and then at the nurse. She looked at me and then at the shiny guy again.

"She is suffering from severe amnesia. She doesn't recall any of the events that occured, and I'm concerned that she doesn't recall who she is."

"What is your name, girl?"

"I. . .uh. . .hmm. . .You tell me. You seem to know more about me than I do."

He made a strange gurgle noise and turned to the nurse.

"How long is she going to be like this?"

"I'm afraid it's permanent."

I was in the process of whistling some tune that I don't really know when the tall shiny dude caught my attention again.

"She doesn't remember anything. I don't feel it is necessary to carry out our sentencing. We will conduct a few tests to be sure, but I think we can use her for something else."

"Make it so. The subject is a rare species and needs to be utilized. Bring her to me as soon as the tests are complete."

"Yes elder."

The device on his arm beeped and he looked at me.

"Are you going to cooperate with us?"

"I don't see any reason not to."

He untied my arms and legs and I stood up.

----------------------------------

I was taken to a large pyramid and shoved into a room. I looked around. There were two entrances, that means two exits, but the one behind me just locked. The other door slid open and a large black creature emerged. It had a long smooth head and saliva drizzling from its mouth. I didn't see any eyes. Its tail is what held my attention the longest. It was long and had a barb on the end. That looks scary. I fell to my knees and the creature came straight at me. I closed my eyes and waited for it to kill me. When nothing happened I opened one eye and looked. It was sitting across from me staring at me. At least I assumed it was staring at me. . .it seemed to be attentive enough. I had a strange thought that I could reach out and touch it with no objection. I tested this theory. I reached my hand out and ran it along the creatures head. It chittered, but didn't move. I lowered my hand again and just sat there. A buzzer sounded and the creature slinked back to the door. The shiny dude came in and started to pull me out of the room.

"Hey wait, we were having a great conversation."

"Kainde Amedha do not speak."

"That's kind of my point."

He grunted and drug me into another room. This time when the other door slid open a spear flew at me. It hit the wall to my left after impaling my arm. I sat on the ground with a spear anchoring my arm to the wall for a few moments before the spear chucker came through the door. He loomed over me menacingly.

"Ow."

"You just going to sit there?"

"What else am I supposed to do?"

He pulled the spear out of the wall and my arm.

"That really hurts. I think you severed my artery. Look at how much blood is gushing out."

A puddle began to form.

"Medic!"

The spearman knelt down and started wrapping something around my arm. The blood stopped spurting and He lifted me up. The buzzer sounded and the door opened up.

"She isn't doing very well."

"I know."

I was handed over to the arbitrator again. He took me to a room and a tentacle came out of the wall and started patching my arm up.

"You've failed all the tests."

"I'm sorry. I must not be much of a fighter then. . ."

"You seem disappointed."

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't mind being able to at least defend myself."

"Against what?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what I am, what you are, what that black thing was. Nothing is computing in my brain. I feel like I'm missing something."

"Loss off memory will do that."

I shrugged and looked at my arm. It was sealed with some sort of mucus. That's kind of gross. I touched it and when I pulled my hand away it squelched. I kind of wanted to gag. I've been patched up with tentacle boogies, yuck.

-------------------------------------

I was led into a space craft and sat down in a chair. Something about this seems familiar. What the hell? I'm really starting to doubt myself already. That's a bad sign when yourself is a foreign concept. After a few moments we exited the craft and trecked across a large field. The heat was swelteringly comfortable. I followed the leader and was flanked by the underlings. We entered another pyramid as soon as we made it through the city. Everyone was staring at me. I was about to say something about it when the doors were opened and I saw what was inside the pyramid entrance. There was a huge skeleton fixed in a menacing way. The head sort of matched that black thing that I encountered during one of those tests. Am I a failure at everything? Is that who I am? Oh well.

There were 3 old looking beings seated behind a small table at the back of the room. We approached and stopped a couple meters away.

"This is the subject. She failed all the tests. We have deemed her as unworthy. She is of no threat."

"Good. She can be of use then. Get her into training. We have a lot of work to do."


	14. Broken

_A/N: Well well well. . .look who decided to continue with this story, that's right, me! Yeah, so for a really long time I wasn't sure I was going to continue this, but here we are. I'm sure you have all been waiting for this. . .  
Just for you I'm going to try and put up a few more chapters in rapid succession. We'll see how long it takes for me to get writers block again. Punches self in face. DaSvidanya and enjoy!_

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, and I don't suppose that mattered at all. The shiny guy led me outside once again to a shorter boulding that was almost entirely unlike a pyramid. Once we got inside I saw many shorter versions of the creatures that currently had me under their control. I suppose it is entirely voluntary though, so no complaints here. A normal sized dude (accepting the fact that normal around here seems to be nearly 8 ft. tall) stopped just in front of us and looked down at me for a moment.

"What is this?"

"Gor'tok, you are in charge of training this subject in melee. The elders have a unique interest in her and want her training to be completed as soon as possible."

"Yes arbitrator Gi'gush."

"I will leave you to it then."

He glanced down at me before turning and leaving me standing in the middle of a room surrounded by hostiles. Thanks Gi'gush. I was handed a wooden stick that resembled a long knife.

"Attack me."

"What?"

"Attack me."

"You can't be serious. Why would I want to attack you? Not to mention the fact that you are just going to bash my brains in right away."

He folded his arms across his chest and eyed me. His mandibles clicked against his teeth.

"You want to attack me because I told you to attack me. It is a command. As for bashing your brains in, I haven't done that to any of my other students."

I looked at the stick, my trainer, then around the room at the other students. They were still larger than me, but younger. I could tell somehow. I really don't know how. I looked back at my trainer and sighed.

"Maybe they have incredibly thick skulls."

A hint of a smile came across his face and he trilled. Maybe that is their way of laughing. . .?

"I bet they do, that doesn't change the fact that either you are going to attack me right now, or I will flog you later for not listening to me."

My jaw dropped along with my arms. I don't want to be flogged. My name isn't Molly after all. I nodded. He got ready for an attack. I ran at him and swung the stick at his face. He blocked it easily and backhanded me across the room. I hit the wall and slid onto my butt.

"Owie!"

He was already advancing. I scrambled to my feet and rolled out of his way. I rolled one more time and stood up. He swung at me and I ducked out of the way. I swung at his shoulder and he deflected it with his fist. Ok, so I'm not going to try and attack him anymore. I was flung backwards again. I hit the floor and slid for a few feet. I got up. I'm feeling a little disoriented right now. I was inturupted by a fist coming straight at my face. I threw myself backwards this time. If I'm going to be flung it's going to be me doing it. I barely dodged another punch but was hit full force by a foot that connected rather rudely with my solar plexus. I fell on the ground and couldn't get up again. The stick had fallen from my hand and I was in a hopeless situation. I started coughing. I was lifted up by some very strong, green and bron speckled arms.

"Vr'chk, take over, resume the lesson and practice until I get back."

I was trying so hard to breathe. Between a broken nose and a pissed off diaphragm, it was impossible. I was set down on a table and I immediately fell over coughing.

"Calm down, try to breathe more slowly."

"Can't breathe."

I felt something cold on my nose.

"It's broken."

"I know. I'm sorry about that. We yautja don't have protruding noses, so I forgot about yours."

"Protruding nose? Is it that big?"

He looked at me and raised an eye ridge.

"I don't know. I don't speak with beings with noses much."

"Oh. Why not?"

"I usually hunt them and kill them."

I stared at him for a moment with my eyebrows furrowed. He looked at me a moment later.

"What's wrong?"

"What is the point of killing?"

He started to say something and faltered. He didn't really have an answer at the moment. I waited until he could think of something before totally giving up.

"It's necessary sometimes. You have to kill to protect yourself, or to protect your community, family, friends."

"Is that what we learn in training? To defend ourselves?"

He glanced at me, but didn't keep eye contact.

"Yes."

I frowned, but let it go. He doesn't seem to believe that. I sighed. At least I can breathe now.

"Are you all right now?"

"Well, now I can feel all the contusions and lacerations I have, so not really."

"Here."

He lifted up my shirt and I backed away.

"What?"

"Are you really planning on sticking that thing in my stomach?"

I had spotted the huge needle in his hand without him knowing it. It looked like something you would use on an elephant.

"It wont hurt after I give you this pain killer."

"Are you sure it's a pain killer and not just something that will kill me?"

"We've tested this substance on many forms of life. None of them died."

"I'm not worried about the substance. I'm worried about the needle."

He laughed. At least I'm pretty sure it's a laugh. I don't know how else to think of it. He took my hand and held it for a moment.

"You'll be fine. If you can stand up after one of my punches, you can handle a little needle."

"I can handle a little needle just fine. That however, is not a little needle."

He sighed and stabbed the needle into my stomach. I clenched my jaw so hard it made my head pound. It was over a second later. He let my shirt fall into place again and looked at me.

"See, you're fine."

He started to pull his hand away, but I kept my grip on it. I looked down and something clicked in my head. I thought I was remembering something. I frowned, then I realized my mind wasn't clicking, it was just a short circuit.

"What is it?"

"I just. . .I don't know. I like the contact I suppose. No one has really been very nice to me since I woke up and well. . .I don't know."

"I know how you feel. What do you mean when you woke up?"

"I was in some sort of. . .I was. . .I have no idea. I'm assuming something pretty bad happened to me since I was covered in bruises and had all sorts of gaping wounds and was nearly dead when they found me. I just don't remember how I got them or where I was when it transpired. I woke up on a table in some reconditioning room and then Gi'gush put me through all these tests. . ."

"Did they ask you anything?"

"No. . .well. . .except what my name was and where the traitor is."

"The traitor? What traitor?"

"I have no idea. That's the thing. I don't remember anything."

He stood up again and looked down at me.

"Well, then there is nothing to worry about is there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently some force wanted you to start anew."

I smiled slightly.

"Yeah, maybe that's it."

I let go of his hand and stood up. I followed him back to the training room and saw the younger yautja practicing with wooden weapons. Yautja. . .that's a strange word. I was handed a stick again and got into line. For a while we just practiced movements. Then we paired up. No one wanted to be my partner. That doesn't really surprise me. I'm probably quite freakish to them. Gor'tok picked up a stick and stood across from me. We went through the motions and after a little while I was getting the hang of it. I surprised myself when I knocked him back into the wall. A buzzer went off and the students started to disperse. I just stood there dumbly. I have nowhere to go.

"Can I have a few words with you?"

I nodded. After the room was empty he looked down at me.

"You're a quick learner. You also have very fast reflexes."

I touched a bruise on my arm and winced.

"Apparently not fast enough."

"You just don't know the key to fighting yet. You can avoid anything that I throw at you, you just need to learn how."

I nodded and sighed.

"What?"

"I think I'm going to be standing here for a long time."

"Why?"

"I don't know if I'm allowed to go anywhere else, and even if I was. . .I don't know where to go."

He laughed and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'll get you properly settled in."

He took me to another building. This one had a long hallway with countless doors on both sides. We walked into an empty room and he pushed a button. A bed came out of the wall and a light came on.

"Lights are nice."

"We don't really need them to see. It's more for heat."

"Why don't you need light to see?"

"We see in infrared."

"Oh. Makes sense."

He hit another button and a wall retracted to reveal a kitchen and a dining area. I realized how hungry I was when I saw something that resembled a fridge.

"Is there food in there?"

He nodded.

"This is your room, so feel free to do whatever. If you run out of food, press this button and a drone will restock it for you."

My mind synapsed again. 'it seemed to me you were a mindless drone'. I frowned and dropped to the floor. I don't remember ever saying that to anyone. That was my voice I heard. What is going on? All these fragments don't make any sense.

"Are you all right for now?"

I nodded. Gor'tok left the room and I went straight to the fridge. It was packed. I didn't know what to eat first. I pulled out a package of meat and put it in a pan. I turned on the oven-like device and it started cooking the meat almost right away. I turned it over a few times and got fed up. I want to eat this now. I scarfed down the meat after burning the roof of my mouth severely. Maybe this wont be so bad. I have my own room, I'm learning how to fight, and my memory is m.i.a. I have nothing to worry about.


	15. Worms

A few days later I was broken and felt odd. One of the students, Vr'chk I believe his name is, pummeled me after training. Now here I am in the medical room. This is beginning to become my second home. Gor'tok was bandaging up my eyebrow when I suddenly became very nauseous. I turned my head to the side and started to vomit. It didn't look like any normal vomit. It was a greyish color and seemed to be squirming. My vision cleared and I saw that was the case. I had just puked up a pile of long grey worms that were starting to make a break for the door.

"You have worms, Ryzen."

Yes, he named me Ryzen. I don't know why, and according to him, he doesn't know either.

"Worms? How did I get worms?"

"What have you been eating?"

"Some sort of meat. . .it's pink and really good."

"How well did you cook it?"

My heart sank. I poisoned myself. . .groovy. . .

"I don't know. Not well enough I guess."

"I have to give you a shot."

"Oh no. . .no more needles. . ."

"I'm sorry."

He pulled out a syringe and I stuck my tongue out at it. I hate needles. I already had to get a vaccination, or moreso, a course of vaccinations. It took a total of three hours for them to get all the shots in me. It was horrid. After he was finished he took me back to my room where I was ordered to stay in bed until the hallucinations stopped.

"Hallucinations?"

"Yes, unfortunately this substance causes visions."

"Grrrr."

He patted me on the head.

"It's good if you can sleep through them."

He started to leave.

"Gor'tok. . .stay with me?"

He thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

"All right. As long as you promise to stay in that bed."

"I will."

I laid down and closed my eyes. I was fairly tired and hoped that I would fall asleep before the hallucinations started.

The intensity of having dreams induced by a hallucinatory substance is ridiculous. I was stuck in a battle with my own imagination. I thought I was going to die several times because a huge gorilla monster kept drooling all over me and smacking me against a tree that was giggling.

I opened my eyes and sat straight up screaming. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned my head to look. It was Gor'tok.

"It's ok Ryzen, it's over now."

I raised my hand and saw that it was shaking violently. I put it back down and took a deep breath. I was covered in sweat and felt somewhat hollow. I will never eat undercooked meat again. In fact, I'm going to cook the hell out of everything I eat, even if it's just vegitation or fruit or whatever. I'm not going through this bullshit again.

Gor'tok looked at me.

"Are you all right? You look troubled."

"I don't want to get worms again. Once is one time too many."

I rolled off the bed and walked over to the kitchen. I poured some water into a glass and drank it. That was quite unpleasant. Gor'tok was still looking at me.

"You wont get them again. The vaccination will block against it. Don't worry. You can eat raw meat if you desire."

"Errrg. I'm thinking about going on a diet."

"What for?"

"I'm afraid to eat. It might kill me next time."

He laughed. He seems to laugh at me a lot. I'm not entirely sure I approve of that. The door whirred open and Gi'gush was standing there looking at me with something that was similar to disdain.

"Hi. . ."

"Come with me now."

"Why?"

"You are needed for a special mission."

Gor'tok stood up.

"She isn't ready yet. Her training. . ."

"It doesn't matter if she is ready, we are ready to use her."

I wrinkled up my nose. Use me? I slammed the glass down on the counter and huffed.

"Use me for what?"

"I already told you. It's a mission."

I started mumbling under my breath in some form of jibberish as I walked over to the bed. I sat down and started to reach out.

"What are you doing? We need to go."

"I need my damned shoes. . .keep your pants on!"

He growled at me.

"I wouldn't take that tone with me if I were you."

"Good thing you aren't me, you would look horrid in a skirt like this."

Gor'tok stifled a laugh. I was having a hard time finding this situation funny because of the hostility of Gi'gush. What makes him so damned special? I finished putting my shoes on and followed him out the door. I glared at the back of his head all the way to the docking port. I saw other yautja loading things onto the craft. This one was bigger than the others I had been in. Or other, as it were. Why do I have the feeling that I'm not quite correct to assume that? I shook it from my head rather violently and followed Gi'gush into the craft. I don't know what he is getting me into, but I have this overwhelming feeling I'm not going to like it.

"Subject is onboard, get us to the site, Ja'tura."

"Where are we going?"

"That is none of your concern."

"If I'm going to be there, isn't it at least some of my concern? And my concern is for my well being, unlike you."

He growled and whirled around. He lifted me up by my neck.

"This is your last warning, speak to me like that again. . .and I will teach you to be respectful."

He tossed me down the hall and turned to two other yautja.

"Confine her to a room. Stand guard outside the door. We wont have her running around on this craft like a wild animal."

The two yautja escorted me to a room and shoved me in.

"Now stay quite."

The door shut and I heard the lock engage. I sighed and sat down on the floor. This is going to be hell.


	16. Sponges

It took me a long time to decide to do something about my current situation. So long in fact that by the time I made up my mind to escape via the ventilation the ship had landed and I was being escorted to the drop door. Well, there goes that plan. If I was something else I would just kung fu every one of these yautja and be on my way elsewhere. Maybe back to Gor'tok. We could jump on this craft and be off before anyone noticed something was wrong. We could find some deserted planet, settle down, be together. Not that he feels the same admiration for me as I do for him, but whatever. I can live a lie. Pretend that he's just my trainer and bottle up all my loneliness until it overcomes me and I am forced to gut myself. I ran my hand along the scar I had on my stomach. It was straight, seemingly surgical. What had happened? Had someone implanted something in me? Had they taken something out? Were they just prodding around in there? It's not like I'll ever know. Gi'gush jammed a sword into my hands and I looked up at him. He grunted at me.

"You will scout the area. Find anything that looks out of the ordinary."

"Out of the ordinary? How am I going to know that? I don't know what is considered ordinary around here."

He scowled at me before putting his mask on.

"This is a jungle planet. There are jungle creatures. Quadropeds, tripeds . . .anything sentient doesn't belong. Keep as hidden as you can. When you come back, if anything is following you, kill it."

"You make it sound as if I'm used to killing things."

"You should be."

I sighed and looked at the sword I was now holding. I didn't like the feel of it, but for some reason it felt like I would know what to do with it. That feeling didn't come from my training though, and that bothered me.

"Now get going before I kill you."

"But. . ."

"Now!"

I staggered backwards a few steps and then turned around and trotted off into the trees. I like that guy less and less everytime he opens his mouth. The dense undergrowth and fog didn't make it any easier to make my way through. I was starting to think this was going to be a pointless mission. I frowned when I heard a rustling to my left. I slowly turned my head and looked. There was a small furry creature, that resembled a sponge with legs, looking at me. It squeaked and walked closer. It started rubbing against my leg. In a weird way, it's really cute. I knelt down and started stroking its back. It made a giggling noise. That's a little uncanny and frightening. I got a strange feeling and stood up slowly. I walked over to a fallen log and ducked down behind it. A few meters away I saw a large reptilian creature munching on a smaller reptilian creature. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I felt something on my shoulder. My eyes went wide and I turned to look. My heart resumed beating when I saw that it was just my little furry sponge friend.

"That was frightening. You wouldn't happen to know of anything being out of the ordinary around here, would you?"

It jumped off my shoulder and squelched when it hit the ground, but it started trotting triumphantly to my right.

"Wait for me little guy."

I trotted after him. He sure could move fast for a little thing with such stubby legs. We covered quite a distance before he stopped and hopped up onto a rock.

"What do you see?"

A hose-like apendage shot out of his back and inserted itself into my head. I was about to scream when I realized that I was seeing whatever the little sponge was seeing. That's a nice trick. I looked around using his eyes and saw a building. It was roughly built and looked new. I saw some strange creatures walking around outside. Seems they are patrolling. They seem sentient enough. I scoped out what they were carrying. My little friend seems to have zoom in his vision. There were strange objects in the boxes they were carrying. I didn't know what they were though. It's possible they are weapons. I pulled the tube out of my head and picked up my furry sponge. I turned around with the intention of reporting my findings to that jackass Gi'gush, but it seemed that wouldn't transpire. I had been spotted.


	17. Emergence

I didn't have time to plan my move. I was already acting. I drew the sword and attacked the being. I ducked under his arm as he swung it at me and jammed the sword through his back. He let out a shrill cry before falling to the ground, but I was too busy decapitating the other creature to watch him die completely. The third one, while I was busy with the other two, pulled out some sort of gun like weapon and shot me with it. It blew a hole in my side, but I was still on my feet and coming after him. He didn't have the time to fire again. I stood there for a moment not blinking. I was covered in blood, mine and theirs. Sponge Guy, as I dubbed him, was rutting his head against my ankle.

"You're right, we need to get out of here fast."

I picked him up after sheathing the sword and started running as fast as I could towards the clearing where I knew the bastard lord was waiting for me. When I came running out of the trees he seemed surprised.

"Gi'gush. There's an encampment about 50 meters that way, they are carting around some sort of weapons, they attacked me."

"Were you followed?"

"No."

"Get her into the medical chamber."

I watched the tentacles appear and started to tend to my wound. Sponge Guy was anchored to my shoulder with some sort of tubelike things. Kind of remeniscent of what muscles use to anchor themselves onto rocks. Funny. It wasn't uncomfortable though. I could hardly feel it at all. Once the tentacles were finished I walked out and stood there. The reality of the situation hit me. I had just killed three people. In an instant. I dropped to my knees and started shaking violently. What have I done? I hadn't even second guessed myself while I was doing it. Sponge Guy started cooing in my ear. I reached my hand up and stroked under his chin, assuming he has a chin.

"I couldn't stop myself, Sponge Guy. I was on autopilot or something. It was like my body took over. Super defense mode or something."

"Ryzen, Gi'gush wants to speak with you."

I stood up and walked outside. Gi'gush was staring off into the jungle. I looked and saw smoke rising into the air.

"What is that?"

"We took care of the problem. The threat has been neutralized."

"You killed them all? Why?"

"Because they were a threat. Good job finding their camp."

"You sent me to find them so you could kill them all?"

"What did you think we were going to do? Did you think we were going to talk to them? Those creatures can't be bargained with."

I started shaking again, but this time it was caused by rage. I was so mad at this situation.

"I want to go home."

"You don't have a home, girl."

"Then I want to go back to Lau'thalus."

"We will be returning now."

I gritted my teeth as I walked back to my holding cell of a room. I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. What am I going to do about this feeling of guilt?

I was starting to feel completely lost when the ship landed. I left the room and got off the ship as fast as I could. I'm going into solitary confinement. I got into my room and locked the door from the inside. I can't stand to look at any of these yautja right now. They are so cruel and horrible.

I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling for the rest of the day. I didn't move at all. My stomach began to growl, I ignored it. There was a knock on my door, moreso, someone running into it because they expected it to open for them.

"Ryzen?"

It was Gor'tok. I didn't know if I could talk to him. I pretended not to be there.

"Ryzen, I know you're in there. Let me in."

I clenched my jaw and supressed the tears. I'm not going to get out of this bed ever again. I'm going to waste away on this bed. The door beeped and opened a moment later. Crap. He knows how to override the damn doors. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. He put his hand on my forehead and I turned away.

"What is it?"

"It's all my fault. They are all dead because of me."

"Wh-what?"

"Those. . .creatures. I didn't know Gi'gush was going to kill them. . .I . . .I didn't know how to use a sword, but I did anyway. I slaughtered them without realizing it."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Leave me alone before I kill you too!"

"You wouldn't."

"You don't know that."

"You do."

"What if I don't? I don't kill things, I don't kill people. That isn't who I am. The bad thing is, what if that is who I am and I'm a timebomb. I could go off at any time and kill everyone around me before I could stop myself."

"What is that on your shoulder?"

"It's Sponge Guy. He found me in the jungle before. . ."

I bit my lip hard. Things aren't going very well for me any more. If I see that bastard Gi'gush I'm going to pummel him.

"Why wont you look at me, Ryzen?"

"Because I don't want to see the look in your eyes."

"Why?"

"It isn't what I want to be there."

"What do you want to be there."

"The same thing that's in my eyes when I look at you. I know it will never happen though. You're my trainer, I'm just a student, just some sort of abomination that was dumped on you. I'm nothing. I don't deserve love."

"Love?"

He stood up and backed away from me. Sponge Guy did his little vision trick and I watched as Gor'tok put his hand on the wall and stood there for a moment.

"I don't know what you want exactly, Ryzen. I am your trainer, you are my student, but you aren't just anyone. You are very different, you have such a strong spirit and a witty tongue. Dispite how snyde you can be, I admire that about you. I like that you speak exactly what you are thinking. I love who you are."

I turned my head and disconnected the tube from my head. This isn't what I had expected.

A/N: And that about wraps it up for now. I didn't think I really had 5 chapters in me. . .but I was WRONG! So I will be leaving you now to reflect upon what you have read. More chapters coming soon.


	18. The Old Nightmare

**In case anyone forgot. . . .I'm going to spell this out again. . .**

**I only make claim to the characters in this story, nothing else.**

_**A/N:** I know you are probably wondering what happened to make her so susceptible to things all of a sudden, and if she is going to get her memory back, but that's my business for the time being. I'm going to leave you hanging! It's just a ploy to get you to keep reading._

_Thank you to all the people that have reviewed! It gives me motivation to continue on writing. And for those of you that don't review. . . .I guess we really have nothing to say to each other._

I laid there for a moment staring at Gor'tok and hoping I wasn't just imagining this or having a dream. As soon as I felt that this was really happening I smiled. He does feel something for me. I sat up and took a breath to try and stop my heart from pounding to violently in my chest.

For a long time neither one of us said anything to each other. I suppose we didn't know what to say. Gor'tok seemed surprised that he had said what he did. I wanted to tell him it was ok that he had feelings for me. I wouldn't hurt him. I'm not sure he was worried about that particularily, but I knew he was worrying about something.

Sponge Guy broke the awkwardness by making a little gurgling sound. I started rubbing his back. I was starting to think that maybe Gor'tok would decide to take me far away somewhere that we could be together.

"Ryzen. . .You and I have to forget about these crazy feelings. I am a Yautja, you're not. You're something else and it is forbidden."

I felt my heart drop. Forbidden? What the hell is wrong with these creatures?

"I'm sorry Ryzen. We can't be together."

I slowly stood up and stalked towards him. I felt a strange pressure behind my skull and a lot of tension in the rest of my body.

"Sorry? You monsters have no sense of being sorry. You are all selfish! You are one of the lowest forms of life I've ever come across!"

"You need to stop right there. You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. You can be advanced technologically as much as you want, but if you don't have anything more than base emotions then you're nothing!"

He roared and attempted to backhand me. I ducked under his arm before he landed the blow. I kicked my foot out and sent him crashing through the wall. I was on him before he could get away. I roared in his face and the pressure I was feeling went away. I jumped back and looked down at my hands. They weren't my hands anymore. I fell to the ground and started convulsing violently. My whole body felt like it was being crushed.

Strange scenes were running through my head.

I was in front of a warehouse. Something inside moved.

My brain started to twitch.

I was now inside the warehouse. There was a Yautja in front of me and the blades of his kict-pa were in my chest. They hadn't gone through. . .hadn't gone through. . .

Ya'uta.

I stood up and looked at Gor'tok. It seemed he was expecting something else, anything other than what I said.

"Where is Ya'uta?"

His eyes went wide. I love the look of fear on their faces. It's so out of place that it makes them look even more pathetic.

"You remember him?"

"I remember everything. You vile creatures just can't leave me alone can you?"

I heard footsteps racing down the hallway towards us. They aren't going to catch me again. The last time they did. . . I ended up as an experiment. I dove through the opposite wall and ran as fast as I could, through the city, towards the jungle. I thought I was homefree, but something seared past my right arm. I looked back over my shoulder and saw 5 or 6 yautja closing in on me. That's when I realized that in this form it would be much easier for me to run on all fours. I dropped down and my speed quadrupled. I was coming up fast on the city wall. I would have to decide whether I should go for the gate or just go over the wall. As the gate slammed shut I realized the decision had been made for me. Stupid creatures think a little wall is going to hinder me. They're in for a surprise. I got close enough to the wall and leapt. I landed about 4 fifths of the way up and quickly clambered over the top. I jumped off the top and when I hit the ground I was amazed to find I was intact and the fall hadn't hurt at all. I love being a demonic creature.

As soon as I was in the jungle I retreated to the trees. I would have to keept going for now, but eventually I can stop and formulate a plan to get the hell off this planet.


	19. Deception of the Heart

I was laying on the branch of a tree trying to figure out my next move. My mind kept wandering back to the long lost Ya'uta. What ever had happened to him? His wrist bomb had malfunctioned so I know he didn't blow up. Gi'gush had asked me where the traitor was. Could he have meant Ya'uta? I know he did some things that the rest of the clan didn't agree with, but to go as far as to call him a traitor?

Obviously they hadn't captured him if they were probing me for his location. If they do ever catch him, what would his punishment be? He hadn't ever explained to me how they torture the ones that go against the clan or the species. Why not just have him say he's really sorry, wont do it again, yadda, yadda, yadda, smack him with a ruler a few times and let him go?

I doubt I will ever understand the politics of being a Yautja. I always detested politics, but thought that it was named quite accurately. After all, 'poly' in Greek is 'many' and tics. . .well, they are blood sucking parasites. So we can all assume how I feel about politicians.

Ya'uta.

Beautiful, ugly, wonderful, stupid, creature.

If he is alive, where is he? Perhaps laying low somewhere. Being smart, staying out of danger. I will admit I'm a little upset with him for running out on me, but I can't be mad because last time I saw him I did try to kill him. Of course, he was trying to kill me as well. . .it was a mutual decision to kill each other.

I hope I find him someday. I'll tell him I'm sorry for trying to kill him, and remind him he's an ass hole for abducting me repeatedly. Make sure he knows that if he had stayed away from me none of this would have happened. I would be back on Earth playing my video games and sparring with the guys. The guys that the ass hole part of Ya'uta killed. An honorable death. . .forgive me for maybe being naive, Ya'uta, but I don't see anything honorable in death. Death is not a graceful thing. A person may go out gracefully, but death cramps always soil the pants and hopes of keeping any dignity one has in life. If the fact that somone just spasmed and shit their pants doesn't make you laugh at their cadaver, I don't know what will.

Alas, he was a good friend. His loyalty, honesty, all the qualities that human beings are generally devoid of, were becoming attributes. A Yautja will always tell you how they feel about something. . .by that I mean either tell you with words or with a solid fist to the top of the head, that is, if they like you. I remembered my last few thoughts on that ship. I was grateful to him. Even going so far as to consider him my true love. Strange how immense pain can bring out the truth in our own minds. Now I know why torture works so well.

I sighed as I rolled over. There are a lot of things I'm going to have to say to him if our paths cross again. Space is such a vast place. It is likely that we will never see each other again. I suppose I'll just have to keep hoping. I snorted at that. Hope. . .hope is for. . .I suddenly spotted a little sponge creature on a branch below me.

"Oh Fuck!"

I have to go get Sponge Guy. I dropped out of the tree and headed back towards the city. I froze a few feet away from the wall. I should be stealthy about this. Of course that's going to be really hard. Shadows wont hide me from a creature that sees in infrared. Maybe they'll all be too busy to look up. I entered the city, staying behind everything I could find. I entered the pyramid I had been kept captive in and crawled along the ceiling. I turned down the hallway where my room was and crawled throught the hole in the wall I had made with Gor'tok's body. I saw Sponge Guy laying on the bed where I had left him. I was about to descend from the ceiling when a thought entered my mind. If I were the Yautja and a being such as myself had escaped from their prison they were holding me in. . .I would set a trap said being would fall into. A trap such as leaving Sponge Guy undisturbed until I returned for him and then close in. I know I can take them. . .

I climbed down and put my feet on the floor. I was waiting for the moment when they jumped out at me and said 'Gotcha'. A few moments passed. Still nothing. I slowly crept towards the bed. Sponge Guy turned to look at me and made a happy chortling sound. I got on all fours and crawled closer. I was looking and listening around intensely. There were no noises other than Sponge Guys happy-sponge-sounds and the whir of the air circulation system. No heavy footsteps, no beating hearts, no sound of anticipation of a capture or a kill. I stood up and frowned. These guys really are full of themselves. They most likely think I wouldn't dare to come back here, that I'm too afraid of their 'awesome' powers. Either that or every single one of them is off looking for me.

Did I leave a trail? I don't know. Most likely. They can follow pheromone trails and I might have those. I still don't know what I am or what it entitles me to. I lack pain, I lack brittle bones and I am probably lacking for time if I did leave a trail.

I grabbed Sponge Guy off the bed and placed him on my shoulder. I waited a moment for him to anchor himself to me before I hopped onto the ceiling. I was about to go out the way I came in, but this time there was the sound of footfalls. I looked around for an alternate route. Sponge Guy pointed out the ventilation system to me.

"Good idea."

I was about to make my escape when someone came into the doorway. I swung around and growled. It was Gor'tok. What the hell is he doing back here?

"Ryzen!"

"My name isn't Ryzen."

His brow ridge furrowed.

"Then who are you?"

"If you don't let me go, I'm going to be known as your executioner."

"Do you suddenly feel nothing for me?"

I was so shocked at his words that I lost my grip on the ceiling and fell. Luckily I landed on all fours. I stayed in a crouch. If he advances straight forward I can dive under his legs, and if he advances from the side I can go over his shoulder. Crouching is good.

"You actually think I'm going to buy into that? You're the one that told me I need to forget my feelings for you."

"I did. . .but I thought it would be a little more gradual."

"Gradual isn't good enough for me. Think of it as a purge."

I could see on his face and in his eyes that he didn't like the way this was going. Don't try to manipulate someone that is born to manipulate. I am a female after all and there is a possibility that I'm at least a little human. We all know that humans are masters of manipulation.

Gor'tok took a step forward, but when I growled he stopped.

"Don't do this. You can still redeem yourself amongst us. If you help the arbitrators find Ya'uta. . ."

"I spit on the arbitrators."

Ok, that was a little dramatic, but these creatures seem to be simple minded, so he wont see it as being so.

"If you run, they will find you anyway. It doesn't matter where you go."

"How can you say it doesn't matter where I go? If I go there, it matters."

He was really trying to be sneaky now. He was using what slight mental powers he had to keep me drawn to his eyes while he spoke. What he didn't know is that I have another set of eyes. Sponge Guy was staying trained on Gor'tok's hand as he slowly reached for his knife. I was playing along of course. One thing about having the advantage is not letting others know you have it until it's too late for them. He just had to keep me talking for a couple more minutes. I could of course break our eye contact and flee, but manipulating him by using his own tactics against him seems a lot more adventurous. He was really straining himself attempting to keep me locked onto him. I was laughing on the inside, but pretending to be a little enthralled on the outside.

Mind tricks are all the same once you learn how to overcome them. If you had a landlord like my old one, you would know that you can't afford to be controlled by 'the stare'. There are of course different levels of 'the stare' as well as different 'nuances' of it. Her death stare could freeze anyone. It could stop a charging elephant in its tracks. And I thought I was a demon. . .I almost shuddered when Delila came into my mind.

He had his knife in hand. He finally charged. I rolled to the side and leapt behind him. As soon as I was in the hallway I ran for the door to freedom. I don't want to have to kill Gor'tok. He was a good friend to me, or Ryzen, as it were. I can't say I'm her anymore. I can't say I'm really Lena either. That was a name I used when I was only human, or at least thought I was only human.

The door was coming up fast. It whirred open and I dove out into the sunlight and right into a net. Damn momentary blindness!


	20. Goodbye Cursed World

When my eyes opened I cursed them. I cursed the fact that I was in a cage and the fact that I was alive. It's funny how I always fall back to that when I'm in a tight spot. Damn my life. Curse my life. I need a new gimmick if I'm going to start over as a super hero. I need a new name and a hook to get the people interested in me. I don't know though. Perhaps my hatred of myself when in trouble can be my gimmick. I'll be one of those super heroes that could go bad at any moment. The shifty one that no one trusts. Maybe I'll become a super villain, but not at the time when they would expect that of me. I would wait until they were least expecting it and strike. Take out all the other super heroes in one fell swoop, or pounce, if I felt so inclined.

A hard scaly hand snapped me out of my delusion. I'm not a super hero. I am in a cage though.

I looked up into the emotionless mask of the captor who was going about the business of beating me. Funny how his mask is as emotionless as he is.

"Fuck you Gi'gush."

"You impudent little. . ."

"Why don't you untie me and we can go rounds? See who gets K.O.'d first."

"What?"

"Sir, perhaps you are beating her too much. Her brain might be damaged."

"Of course my brain is damaged! I'm just kneeling here taking blows to my face."

Fucking retard. I could be up and kicking his ass right now, but I'm not. I realized that thinking about it isn't going to get anything done, so I hopped onto my feet and ripped the cords on my wrists with my teeth. I threw my entire body at Gi'gush and knocked him to the ground.

I felt a strange tingle and my body went rigid. All my muscles locked up. Bastards are shocking me! I roared at them. Once I regained control of my body I went for them, but they had already drug Gi'gush out of the cage and shut the door. I threw myself at it a few times before I realized it wasn't doing any good. I resigned myself to a corner and pouted for a few minutes before I resumed cursing everything I could think of. A chortle in my left ear caught me by surprise. I turned and looked at the wall. Sponge Guy was hanging out on the wall. I grabbed him and hugged him to me.

"You came to save me. You're the best sponge a girl could have."

I rubbed his back for a few minutes.

"I realized you hastened to my rescue and all, but do we have a means of getting out of this cage?"

He wriggled free of my grasp and sponge-hobbled over to the lock. He stuck out a few of his little tentacle things and put them into the lock. A moment later I heard the sound of disengaging. I sat there completely stunned for a while. I mean, wouldn't you if you found out your pet sponge could pick locks? Of course, I bet you wouldn't be able to get past the fact that the sponge was a walking living thing out of water.

I finally regained my composure and stood up. I walked out of the cage after grabbing Sponge Guy and setting him on my shoulder. I felt his tentacle thing in my head and I could suddenly see behind me.

"I love you more than anything in this world Sponge Guy, I really do."

He chortled happily as we made our way stealthily through the dungeon area. There didn't seem to be any Yautja down here. Once again, they underestimate me. They believe they left me securely locked in that cage. Moreso, they underestimated the power of the sponge. My sidekick. I crawled into a tunnel and hoped it would lead outside. A few minutes later I knew I was on the right track when I felt a breeze and smelled the jungle. Something feral in my wanted to escape to the jungle. That wasn't far enough. I have to get far far away. Somewhere they wont find me and Sponge Guy.

It seemed that things were going freakishly my way. It was upsetting. I wanted a little bit of a fight, one more chance to kill that damnable Gi'gush before leaving the planet and their reach forever. The tunnel ended in the space craft hanger. I was exasperated. Things couldn't possibly get any easier for me.

I snuck aboard a small craft and closed the door then made sure it wouldn't open for anyone outside of it. It's amazing how being a demon type creature can put you in tune with the workings of things you've never encountered. I started up the ship and began to back it out of the hanger. This seemed to alarm the Yautja that hadn't seen anyone board the ship. I could hear the actual alarm even inside the capsule of doom. I started grinning maniacally as I saw Gi'gush charge into the hanger with his underlings. I looked around for a moment to see if I could find the guns. I don't even know if this craft has any. Sponge Guy was looking right at the controls for them. I kissed the side of his face and my grin became even more maniacal. I put my hand on them and realized I was going to get my revenge. I fired the guns right at him. Unfortunately the dust and debris kicked up by the blasts obscurred my view of his demise, but I didn't have time to wait for it all to settle. I flew out of there as fast as the craft would go and broke atmo a few moments later.

I'm free. As long as I burn hard enough for long enough they wont be able to catch me. If I can find a good place to ditch this craft and pick up a new one, I'll lose them for good. I sat back and relaxed for a minute. At least I got that bastard. Or at least I think I did. I know how it goes in video games. You shoot the bad guy, think he's dead, but eventually he comes back to kick your ass. Happens many times in one of the Resident Evil games. . .damn, I can't remember which one that was. Maybe someday I'll get another chance with Gi'gush, that is, another chance to kill him with my bare hands. And what of Gor'tok? Will I kill him or just destroy him?

I woke up to a high frequency beeping and a slight rattle in the ship. Out of fucking fuel. Of course. Suddenly everything shut down. I checked to see if the life support was still functional. It was, for now. I have no choice. I have to call for help. Send out a short frequency wave and hope someone is in the neighborhood.

I regrettably did that and waited.

The hours ticked by and finally someone answered me. It was a mercenary ship. Good. At least I can get along with them. I don't have a reward out for my capture, so they'll just try to rape me. No worries there. I can handle lustful humanoids. It's the ones that want me for a different purpose that get annoying.

As soon as I was onboard I could tell none of them had seen a female in a long, long time. Like I said before, no worries. If things get too deep, I can just kill them all and highjack their ship.

"I want you to understand we will need some sort of payment for helping you out."

"Oh yeah?"

"If you want us to refual your ship and get you back out into the verse. . .nothing too big."

"I have an idea."

He seemed to be getting excited. He thought he knew what I was going to say.

"As payment, just take the ship. You can use it, or scrap it. Whatever you want to do with it. My gift to you."

He almost frowned, then the prospect of having a craft like that hit him and he smiled.

"Welcome to the 'Adonis'."

I almost rolled my eyes, Sponge Guy rolled his for me.

"Thanks. . ."

"I'll show you where you can sleep until we drop you off."

I followed him to an unoccupied room. It seems it had been occupies at one time, perhaps not ofr very long. The scent of perfume and other lady-like products was in the air.

"And who's room was this?"

"Our onboard prostitute. There was a bit of a falling out between us."

"You killed her, eh?"

He almost choked.

"I. . ."

"It's a good thing. Anyone that sells their body should be put down."

"You and I think alike."

I nodded and as soon as he was gone I flopped onto the bed and closed my eyes. It will be nice to get some real sleep. As unsafe as I might be here, I still feel that I can sleep soundly.

I ws rudely awakened by a pounding on the door. I growled slightly.

"It's dinner time."

I got up and hobbled mostly on one foot out the door. I don't understand how my body can have so much power, yet my extremities can fall asleep on me. I ignored the pins and needles coursing through my leg and followed the captain into the dinning area. I sat down and started eating the food in front of me. I was enjoying it immensly until someone walked into the room. They were very tall, but I couldn't see their face or anything under the monk's robe they were wearing. I watched as they walked to an empty seat, slightly hobbling. I don't think their foot was asleep. I think it was from some sort of injury.

"Ahh, our priest graces us with his presence."

"Priest?"

"Yes. He isn't your conventional boring sermon slinger and we have him so the Imperium doesn't take too much offense to our work."

"I see."

I decided to ignore the 'priest's' creepy presence and go on eating. Food is a good distraction. I picked up a piece of food and put it in front of Sponge Guy's mouth. He grabbed it with his little teeth and sucked it into his mouth.

"What is that thing?"

"I don't really know. I call him Sponge Guy. He's saved my life more than a few times."

"That thing saved your life?"

"Yeah. He is full of surprises."

"He would have to be."

Dinner went on as such and after I retired to go get more sleep. I was having a really strange dream. I was back in that warehouse where I first confronted Ya'uta. I was such a tard.

I sat up and stared straight ahead of me. A dark figure was standing, more like looming, at the end of the bed.

"The punishment for giving Yautja technology to humans is death."

"I knew you were too big to be human. You're one of them. One of those fucking yautja bastards!"

"What do you have against my people?"

"They destroyed my entire existence and apparently still are."

He started to walk around the side of the bed. I jumped up and got into a fighting crouch. Something like a fighting stance, onlt not standing.

"Careful old man. I can move faster than you."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I noticed your limp. You've been injured and it's stuck with you. You're disabled."

"Do not underestimate a Yautja."

He was on me before I had the chance to move. He had used some sort of mental trick on me. He caused a fugue in my mind while he attacked me. This priest is tricksy. For how close his face was to mine, I still couldn't see it.

"I suppose this is when I receive my punishment."

"Yes."

I never did see his face. I just felt the whole world vanish.

**A/N:**_Yep. This is really the end to this story. Can you tell I wrote this when I was tired? I mention sleeping a few times in this story, yet I am still awake. I don't know how long it's been. . .time seems to be moving around me instead of me moving with time. It's strange when that happens._

_Anyway, the whole point of putting this here is to let you know that, Yes, I will be going on with this story. I just wanted to keep this 'episode' and/or 'issue' to a minimum. I didn't feel like having a million chapters stuffed into one place. So keep on reading and reviewing. I luv the ones that review. Hugs to you. _

_The sequel is now up. It is titled Requiem for a Demon. Yay!_


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